


The Toon Force and Sonic Underground

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24834466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: The younger branch of The Justice League, The Toon Force, decide to go on a vacation away from crime-fighting, superpowers, and super-villains and visit a town called Green Hills in Montana. While there though, they meet strange creatures which are colorful hedgehogs named Sonic, Sonia, and Manic who end up on Earth after traveling through worlds and need to get their rings back.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written in advance for the upcoming 30th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. This is set in The Justiceverse of my stories. Enjoy.

It seemed to be just another day for the group of friends who were junior partners in The Justice League as they trained a bit at The Watchtower, but decided to take a break from it all as they felt they needed some space and a breather from their training just for a little while.

"Sometimes I feel like we need a vacation from the Justice League." Cherry said to the others once they got out of the Watchtower and began to go to Hilda's coffeehouse to relax themselves from a rough while of training.

"That makes two of us!" Lionel agreed. "Honestly, things can just get pretty nutty around here."

"Let's go then," Thor said. "Maybe we could think... Right after some rest at the coffeehouse."

Eventually, everyone came together at their usual hangout and came to relax before going home after a big day of Justice League training.

"There must be someplace we could visit to get out of the house a bit," Cherry said. "...But where?"

"We could go to Montana," Lionel suggested. "Relatively quiet there. Plenty of small towns, so it'd be very out of the way."

"Montana, huh?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, maybe a new atmosphere and change of pace will make things more interesting," Mo agreed. "Also hopefully..."

"No crime!" The group added in excitement so they wouldn't need the Justice League's help.

Hilda smiled as she gave them all their treats before letting them enjoy them before she looked at one empty seat which made her sigh a little as she left the main group alone as someone was missing, but it was for the best.

* * *

And so, it was decided that the group would be making their journey to Montana for some time off. They soon went to their place and got ready to go once they agreed to go out.

"Going somewhere?" Johanna asked as she came by with Johann.

"Oh, hey, guys," Cherry said to the twins. "Yeah, we're going out of town for a little bit."

"We won't be gone long," Atticus smiled. "Just gonna take a mental health week or so."

"Yeah, gotta take some time to chill and have fun." Lionel agreed as he used his powers to pack everyone's bags.

"We'll be back soon," Thor promised. "Maybe you guys could practice your powers until we get back for a big new mission."

"Yeah," Johan smirked. "I'd love to show people that just 'cuz I have the Power of Water doesn't mean I'm a weakling with a stupid power."

"I'm really sorry I misjudged you," Cherry said to him. "I just didn't think of how important and amazing water could be sometimes."

"No one ever really does, provided that Johanna decides not to turn into a sponge." Johan rolled his eyes.

Johanna hid a teasing giggle to her twin brother.

"Okay, everyone; for the rest of this trip, we're not Justice League members," Mo declared. "Our fun starts now!"

Johan and Johanna smiled to their friends, they would've come along, but they thought it would be better this way.

"Right!" The group agreed with Mo.

"Off we go then!" Atticus said as he took the wheel to his car while everyone else would ride. "To the vacation spot! ...Uh, where is it again?" he then asked.

"Green Hills, Montana." Cherry reminded.

"Right," Atticus nodded. "Onward to Green Hills, Montana!"

And so, once they were all packed up, they hit the road to get out of town for a little while to a new location and a new adventure, but even in the sleepiest of small towns, plenty of excitement can always be found.

* * *

Suddenly, a forest was shown on a serene-looking island with nature abound where nothing could go wrong. Three blurs were shown to be running around and one even looked like a tornado twister of three different colors: green, blue, and magenta. On this island, there was everything: sandy beaches, cascading waterfalls, public access to loop-de-loops, and no school bus since the three could get to anywhere they needed in less than two seconds. Plus, they didn't go to school. The three blurs soon came across a line painted in the grass, showing that they were all hedgehogs: two male and one female.

"I won!" The hedgehogs told each other before laughing in playful excitement.

"Dude, that was liege awesome-o!" The green one laughed, balancing on his hoverboard.

"Luckily my hair isn't too mussed-up..." The magenta-colored one remarked. "I can fix it when we get home."

The hedgehog children were born with extraordinary powers and were told to keep them secret. And like any kid, they did the exact opposite, especially the brothers. The three continued to speed around before they would make it back home.

"Try to catch up, Slowpokes!" The blue hedgehog smirked as he sped off without telling his green and magenta siblings.

"No fair! You always get a head start!" The green hedgehog complained, going after him.

"Knock it off, you two!" The magenta hedgehog called as she rode behind them on her tricycle.

The blue one was the first to get home, but on his way inside, he accidentally bumped into their caretaker, an owl named Longclaw.

"Children! Someone could have seen you." The owl named Longclaw said in concern as she saw the hedgehog triplets.

"No one saw us, especially me," The blue hedgehog smirked calmly before running in place before holding out a sunflower. "I'm too fast. And... I wanted to bring you this."

"Oh..." Longclaw smiled as she felt endeared.

The young hedgehogs came inside and went to separate corners which were their own space as the blue hedgehog came to a spot that said "SONIC" on it while the green hedgehog picked up a pair of sticks and beat them against the wall like a drum as with a sign that read "MANIC" while the magenta hedgehog beamed at herself, taking out a comb and straightened out her hair in her zone that her name, being "SONIA".

Longclaw looked very happy for all of them before she gasped as she saw something out the door. "Get down!" she told all of them, flying towards the young hedgehogs and shut the door as arrows flew out and shot through the door before one arrow shot through the glass window and hit the sunflower that Sonic got for Longclaw.

"Oh, bummer majores!" Manic exclaimed.

Apparently great power comes with great power-hungry bad guys, and that meant the Echidna Tribe. They burst through the windows, holding nets. So Longclaw took off, with the triplets in tow. The echidna opened fire, shooting a volley of arrows. Longclaw did what she could to avoid the arrows as she carried the hedgehogs to safety. However, one echidna was lucky and soon struck Longclaw which made her stop in flight as she was caught. Suddenly, the owl fell through the air and crashed through a couple of trees before landing in the ground with the hedgehogs, who luckily weren't harmed.

"Listen carefully, children. You have a power unlike anything I have ever seen, and that means someone will always want it. The only way to stay safe is to stay hidden," Longclaw told the hedgehog triplets as she set them down in front of her before she grabbed a golden ring out of the pouch that she carried and threw it away before the ring widened and it became a portal to a dark, different world. "This world is on the far side of the universe. You should be safe there." she then told them.

"But we don't wanna go without you!" Manic exclaimed.

"You must..." Longclaw replied as she handed over the pouch. "These rings will be your most important possession," She looked up and gasped as the echidna were coming on fast. "If you're ever discovered, use one," The maternal owl told the triplets as she pushed them through the portal. "Never stop running. Now go!"

The young hedgehogs looked very sad before they went to go through the ring portal as Longclaw told them to. They soon made it through and glanced back as Longclaw went to face on the Echidnas.

The hedgehogs, feeling too sad and worried to turn back on the closest thing they had as a mother, decided to go back for her despite being told to leave the owl. "LONGCLAW!" they all called out as they ran back toward her.

"Goodbye, dears." Longclaw told them one last time.

"NOOO!" The triplets cried out, trying to go back in through the ring, but it dissolved before they could go back home.

* * *

"She's gone..." Sonia frowned. "Longclaw is gone forever."

"We're all alone." Sonic added sadly.

Manic's eyes itched with tears before he wiped his eyes, trying not to look weak in front of his siblings, but gave in. "I-I can't believe it!" he then said through his tears. "We're all alone!"

"No... We aren't," Sonia replied, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Because we have each other's backs."

Manic wiped his eyes. "But... Longclaw..." he then said.

"Is gone and we can't change that, but we can change our lives for the better," Sonia replied. "Especially since we won't have to worry about the Echidna Tribe here... Wherever we are." she then said.

"We'll just have to work together." Sonic then added.

"Exactly," Sonia nodded. "It's what Longclaw would want."

And so, the triplets ventured off into the great unknown, unsure of what they would find, but knowing that they would face it as a team.

* * *

Ten years after the event, the group was very close to Green Hills, Montana now. Mo fell asleep on Atticus's shoulder as he drove them into town while Cherry seemed to fall asleep with her head in Thor's lap with her legs in Lionel's lap, though neither of the boys complained about that, except for maybe getting drool on them. Lionel conjured up a handkerchief and wiped Cherry's mouth off as the van made its way in.

"Are we there yet?" Thor asked.

"Looks like we made it into Montana," Atticus smiled. "Now to find a place to stay."

A police officer seemed to be watching them from inside his car.

"Oh! Uh, no trouble, Officer," Atticus told the cop. "Really!"

"That's okay," The police officer smirked. "Luckily you aren't speeding."

"Of course not!" Mo replied. "Because if there's one thing we are, it's responsible motorists!"

"Heh... Well, enjoy your stay at Green Hills." The police officer nodded.

"We will, thanks." Atticus smiled as he got ready to drive forward while maintaining the speed limit.

"Is it just me, or did that guy look like Cyclops from the X-Men?" Thor asked.

"A little, yeah." Lionel replied.

The police officer held out his speed gun before checking it.

"You seem bored with your life." Atticus said to him.

"Eh, kinda," The police officer replied. "I feel like you're the only car I've seen for hours."

"Well, I guess we have a little time to hang around," Lionel replied. "By the way, you wouldn't know any place that we could stay while we're here, wouldja?"

"Well, there's a motel downtown if you drive up the road there and stop when you come across a barbecue place, but be careful," The police officer replied. "The people there get a bit rowdy after night. It's a bar, after all, so a lot of bikers are there."

"I'm sure we could handle that." Atticus replied.

"Next to the bar is also a gas station just a little after the motel." The police officer then said as he gave them a slip of paper he scribbled on to give them an address.

"All right," Atticus smiled as he took it. "I'll just put this address in my GPS, then we'll get back on the road."

"Hopefully soon with a bed," Cherry mumbled. "I feel like we've been driving for days."

"Don't worry, we'll get there soon enough," Lionel replied, as he concentrated. "...There!" he exclaimed. "Should be at least five minutes from here."

"Thanks, Officer!" The group called out.

"No problem," The police officer smiled. "Just remember to stay on top of and don't fight the law."

The group nodded that they would before the police officer soon stopped a turtle, though it was only going at least one mile an hour.

"Hey, buddy! Where's the fire?!" The police officer called out teasingly to the turtle. "There are kids living around here," he then laughed at himself. "I thought it was kind of fun, sorry..."

Suddenly, a blue blur zipped by as Atticus started the car again.

"...Did you guys see that?" asked Mo.

"Dunno, I'll wait for the rerun..." Lionel blinked.

The police officer checked his speedometer: 299 MPH, it read.

Then, another blue blur zipped past. The police officer checked the speedometer again: this time, it read 300 MPH.

"I didn't mean literally..." Lionel remarked, rubbing his eyes.

"Be careful whatcha wish for~" Thor smirked playfully which made Lionel roll his eyes.

The police officer soon came out of his car and decided to check it out.

"We must be seeing things after such a long trip." Cherry said to the others.

"No way, that definitely felt real," Lionel replied, as the source of said blur zipped behind the car, did a triumphant little fist-pump, and then raced away. "And you know something? I think that might have been what it was... That spiky blue creature..."

"Spiky blue creature?" Thor asked before shoving a thermometer in Lionel's mouth.

"Gurk!" Lionel groaned as he narrowed his eyes. "I'm not crazy."

"I just wanna make sure you're well," Thor smiled innocently. "I can't catch Witchitis."

Lionel then spit out the thermometer and wiped his mouth in disgust. The police officer soon came out to explore and looked down into the ground beside the road and reached out to pick up what looked like a blue-colored quill.

"Besides, Zrrrfians don't _get_ illnesses!" Lionel exclaimed. "I know what I saw! And if ya don't believe me, then whatever, man!"

Thor just blew a raspberry at that.

"Knock it off, you guys," Cherry said. "Let's explore and see if we can find anything."

"Tom, we need you down on Main Street," A man said over the police officer's walkie-talkie. "There's been a violent gang shootout."

"I'm sorry, but I gotta go." The police officer said as he went to leave.

"Oh, uh, sure," Atticus replied. "See ya, Officer... Um... Tom."

The police officer soon got into his car and drove away suddenly.

"Just kidding, a duck stole a bagel, but they do need it back." The other man's voice then said with a chuckle as the police officer drove down the road.

Mo soon looked over back on the road in horror and looked wide-eyed as the turtle was still on the road, about to get run over by an oncoming car before another blue blur suddenly dashed by and saved the turtle.

"Whoa, buddy, you almost got yourself killed!" The blue creature told the turtle. "What're ya, some kinda adrenaline junkie?"

"See? See?" Lionel beamed. "I TOLD YOU IT WAS REAL! Maybe _this_ will teach you not to doubt me! Besides, we've seen all kinds of crazy stuff as superheroes. So _how_ exactly is a spiky blue creature so unbelievable?!"

"I just wanted to make sure." Thor replied.

"Argh! You and your assumptions!" Lionel ranted a bit, looking like a child with a temper tantrum.

"Must be rough, being slow all the time..." The blue hedgehog said to the turtle. "Tell you what, today is your lucky day."

"Sonic Hedgehog, what do you think you are doing?!" A female voice called out.

"Great, Sonia found me." Sonic narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

A magenta-colored twister spun out before showing a female hedgehog with hair that almost looked like she stepped out of the 1980's. "Do you not know what inconspicuous means?" she then ranted. "What if one of those weird creatures see you?!"

"Relax, Sis, I'm just about to show this turtle a good time." Sonic smirked.

"So they're hedgehogs..." Mo realized. "Must be from off-world."

Sonia rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's like you don't take anything seriously!" she groused.

"Don't bring down his good time, sis," A hedgehog with a green mohawk remarked as he showed up on a red hoverboard. "What's life without a little fun?"

"Honestly!" Lionel grumbled, crossing his arms. "You'd think after all this time, you'd have enough sense to know when I'm right about somethin'! I'd expect this from anyone else, but _you_ , Thor, are the _last_ person I would expect to _not_ believe me... Apart from Cherry."

"I believed you all along." Thor said.

"Then why did you think I was crazy?" Lionel narrowed his eyes.

"Lazily written Character Development!" Thor smiled.

"That makes sense and you know it." Lionel muttered.

"Yeah, I know," Thor replied before holding out his hand. "I'm sorry I doubted you. You may give me a slap on the wrist."

Lionel took out a wet fish and smacked Thor a couple of times. "...Alright, I'm done," he said, making the fish vanish, then kissing Thor on the forehead. "Got it outta my system. Now... Hedgehogs."


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, don't you start with that, Manic," Sonia replied. "Someone could be watching us!"

"On this road?" asked Manic, gesturing to the empty road. "Unlikely! Which makes it perfect!"

"Well, I'm gonna take this little dude out for a spin!" Sonic smirked.

"Wait up, Bro, I'm comin' with," Manic smirked back. "How 'bout it, Son?"

Sonia sighed and rolled her eyes. "All right, but as long as no one sees us." she then said.

"Alright then!" Manic laughed. "Let's party-hardy!"

And so, the hedgehogs sped off down the road together with luckily, no cars around, though they were still being watched.

"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Have you ever felt so alive?!" Sonic laughed as he lifted the turtle up in the air. "This is great, you're doing amazing!"

The turtle then suddenly flew out of the blue hedgehog's hand.

"Oh, jeez!" Sonic panicked before quickly running back and grabbed the turtle again and brushed it off. "Good recovery! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" he then smiled.

Soon after, Sonic gently put the turtle down in the forest.

"Now, let's keep this our little secret, okay?" asked Sonic. "You never saw us. We were never here?...!"

* * *

And so, the three hedgehogs took off into the distance. The three soon got settled as they had their own home which was a cave that had various items that they had probably "borrowed" over the years, but they were not your typical hedgehogs who ate berries and struggled to survive. Sonic to read some comic books of a superhero known as The Flash while Manic tapped two sticks against any surface he could find, wearing a pair of broken sunglasses as Sonia put soda cans in her hair to be like hair curlers.

"Manic, will you keep it down?" Sonia complained.

Manic kept on playing anyway.

"MANIC!" Sonia complained. "I'm trying to destress myself!"

"What's your problem, Sis?" Sonic smirked. "He's not hurtin' anyone."

"I could've had sisters, but nooo!" Sonia complained to herself.

"Face it," Sonic replied. "If you had sisters, your life wouldn't be as interesting!"

Sonia just rolled her eyes as she did her best to wait out the time for her "hair curlers" to set in as Manic gave himself a drum solo. Sonic then decided to play ping pong by himself before he suddenly dove in for one shot that made the ring pouch fly out and land on the ground, spilling the rings out.'

"SONIC!" Sonia and Manic warned.

"Oh, no!" Sonic panicked before he grabbed the rings and put them back. "It's okay, guys, it's cool! I got them!"

"Be careful," Sonia warned. "You remember what Longclaw said."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sonic sighed as he took out a map they all made before taking out a ring to toss it out to show a world that was covered by mushrooms. "We'll escape to a new planet. A nice safe little world, filled only with mushrooms. Gross, smelly mushrooms... I hate mushrooms." he then sighed in disgust.

"Definitely not a primo pizza topping." Manic replied with a nod as he compressed the ring back to small size.

"But let's not worry about all that," Sonic smiled. "This is Green Hills: The greatest place on Earth!"

"It's something alright," Sonia shrugged. "At least the Echidna Tribe can't get us here."

"Exactly!" Manic added. "These are our people and we're their lovable space creatures!"

"They don't even know we exist." Sonia said, a bit flatly.

"So what?" Sonic smiled. "I think I'm gonna go out for a run through town."

"And besides, they don't need to know we exist to see us as family." Manic added as he flew off on his jet board.

"Yeah, I guess." Sonia shrugged.

The three hedgehogs soon went all about the town as the vacationing group got settled into the motel they were instructed to go to.

* * *

"Finally... A nice, warm bed..." Cherry said in relief as she flopped back onto a bed for what felt like a very long time. "At last... After 10,000 years."

"Glad you're alright..." Lionel replied. "You suppose those hedgehogs might show up again?"

"I wouldn't rule out the possibility," Atticus noted. "They could probably play a huge role in this little adventure of ours."

"There he goes again," Cherry said. "Atticus and his little adventures."

"Well, you know with the life we lead," Atticus reminded. "It's very likely."

Thor was soon hitting himself.

"You can stop doing that." Lionel said.

"I just feel so bad for not believing you," Thor pouted. "I must sound like a real ice hole."

"I told you, I forgive you," Lionel told him. "And if I didn't tell you before, then I'm telling you now: I forgive you."

"Yay!" Thor squealed before jumping onto a bed that Atticus sat on.'

Atticus then yelped as that sent him flying through the air and suddenly crashing on the couch, quite literally.

"Whoops!" Thor said bashfully. "Sorry, Atticus."

"It's okay," Atticus muffled. "The throw pillows broke my fall."

"Well, what should we do first?" asked Mo.

"Probably nap for two or three days." Cherry replied.

"Cherry, we're not gonna be here long," Atticus said. "You shouldn't sleep your vacation away."

"Yeah, I know, but I dunno what else to do," Cherry shrugged before lying on her stomach on the bed with her feet in the air. "I guess we could just take a walk around and come back in time for a nap."

"Well, alright," Lionel shrugged. "Beats just sticking around in here."

"All right, someone has to carry me." Cherry smirked.

The others gave her deadpan looks.

"All right, all right, I'm comin'," Cherry replied as she jumped off the bed and went to walk with them. "Let's explore this town anyway."

"Yeah," Atticus smiled as he opened the door and kept the key in his pocket. "Maybe we can find out a little more about what Lionel saw."

"Here's hoping." Lionel agreed as he and his friends left the room.

Atticus then shut and locked the door as they began to take a stroll away from the motel and a bit further into the neighborhood. Thor hummed some music as they traveled through Green Hills that sounded like it came from a video game.

"What music is that?" Cherry asked.

"I dunno," Thor shrugged. "It just seemed to fit."

"Sounds like video game music." Cherry replied.

"Well, I guess it's alright." Lionel nodded as he bobbed his head to the music.

The group soon began to explore the neighborhood up close. A trio of heads peeked out from the roof of the bank and looked down at the locals and visitors.

"...I feel like we're being watched." Cherry said awkwardly.

"We're always being watched," Atticus replied. "Bruce and Clark are just--"

"Not like that, Superboy," Cherry rolled her eyes. "Like, some spies are looking at us from afar... Luckily though, it doesn't seem to be bad."

"Oh, I get that," Mo agreed. "I have a sixth sense for that sort of thing myself."

"In that case, we'd be wise to stay alert," Lionel replied. "So that way whoever's spying on us won't catch us off guard."

"Ya hear that, spies?!" Thor called out, shaking his fist. "We're on your trail!"

* * *

At the roof of the bank, the hedgehog triplets watched them from above.

"Man, those people aren't our usual friends like Donut Lord or Pretzel Lady." Sonic said to his siblings.

"They're kinda weird if ya ask me." Manic replied.

"Like we're one to talk?" Sonia replied. "But I digress. Might as well keep going."

"Let's do it to it!" Sonic smirked.

* * *

And so, the three hedgehogs dashed off together as Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Thor explored Green Hills up close.

"You kids should be careful around here." A man's voice said behind them.

The group soon turned around to see an old man behind them.

"There's Devils in this town." The old man warned.

"Devils...?" Lionel asked in disbelief.

"Aye!" The man replied. "One blue, one green, and one magenta! Beware The Devil Trio!" 

"Uh, right," Mo shrugged. "We'll keep that in mind, sir."

"You'll thank me later!" The man told them. "There's still hope in you youngsters since you're new here!"

The group smiled bashfully and stepped away from the old man before they kept on going.

"You think the Devils he's talking about might be about what you saw earlier?" Atticus asked Lionel.

"Most likely." Lionel replied.

"Well, in any case, we better watch out for them," Atticus suggested. "At least this town is starting to feel more interesting than we first drove in."

* * *

And so, they explored a bit as they saw the various shops, met some other people, and got to know the area better, aside from the old man's warnings of a Blue, Green, and Magenta Devil. A lot of the other people warned the kids about him and called him "Crazy Carl". The hedgehogs watched the group and looked at each other.

"Look at them," Sonic said softly. "Such good friends and good company."

"Sometimes I wish we could have that..." Sonia said emotionally. "...We are a family of our own, but... It'd be nice to have others that are with us than just the three of us all the time."

"I get that," Manic replied. "Three is a crowd, but I'd be fine with five..."

"I guess it'd be nice to have a few extra members to our family, but I dunno if we should risk it just yet," Sonic shrugged. "You guys make pretty good points though."

"...Tell you what, we'll think it over." Sonia told her brothers. "Alright?"

"Well, okay." Sonic and Manic replied.

"Deal then," Sonia nodded. "I'm glad we had this talk, boys."

"Right..." Sonic and Manic replied.

* * *

Eventually, the group came to a stop at a diner to get some food before it started to get dark.

"It's so cool I can be in the League with you guys~" Thor beamed.

Cherry and Atticus shushed Thor so that no one else could hear them.

"Sorry, so excited!" Thor beamed as he covered his mouth before waving his hands in a flamboyant way. "Ah!~" he then squealed.

"Well, keep your excitement under your hat, capisce, big guy?" asked Lionel.

"Capice." Thor replied, pronouncing it wrong.

"Cah-Peesh." Lionel enunciated.

"...I knew that." Thor said bashfully.

"Sure you did." Mo replied as she got her salad ready to eat.

"Do you eat anything besides salad?" Cherry teased Mo.

"I'm a vegetarian, I eat vegetables." Mo smirked.

"Yeah, that's a great answer." Cherry teased.

"I just hope Johan and Johanna are fine back home," Atticus said. "I hate that we left them, but they can take this time to get adjusted to their new surroundings and so shall we. To Green Hill!" he then called as he lifted his glass.

"To Green Hill." The others nodded as they each lifted their glasses and clinked them together.

They all then took a drink together.

Thor smiled before glancing out the window and saw a baseball field. "Ooh..." he then smiled as he pressed against the window.

"There better not be a puppy in that window." Cherry told him.

"It's not," Thor smiled. "Just one of my favorite things... SPOOORTS!"

Cherry rolled her eyes playfully.

"A Little League game," Lionel remarked. "I've heard of those..."

"Looks pretty nice." Thor smiled.

"You guys wanna start having a baby together?" Cherry teased.

Lionel and Thor both looked bashful.

"How 'bout you guys?" Cherry then smirked at Atticus and Mo who looked just as bashful.

"Maybe, but that makes _you_ the surrogate," Lionel replied. "But then again, Thor'd probably make a cute girl. After all, his namesake went undercover as one on several occasions."

"Oh... You think so?" Thor asked while blushing. "I thought maybe I looked awkward."

"You looked just fine for some missions," Mo smiled at him. "What was that name you had? Thundra? Stormella?"

"Electra." Thor corrected.

"Right... Electra," Mo nodded. "You wear dresses and heels better than I do anyway."

"Heh, I practically remember the first time you used that gender-bender spell on yourself a couple years ago." Patch remarked.

"Ohai, Patch." Thor said to the Dalmatian.

"Very funny." Patch rolled his eyes playfully.

"Heh, I don't think we need to go further into that story," Thor grinned bashfully. "Especially with the girls present."

"It's fine," Cherry smirked. "Besides, a vacation is the time to sit back and relax."

"Fair enough," Lionel replied. "We can have the flashback later. I suppose we can watch that game while we wait for our food."

Thor smiled sheepishly with a small wave and sweat-drop.

"Aw, Thor..." Atticus chuckled and pat the bigger boy on his head.

Thor smiled bashfully with his tongue dangling out. The kids soon played their baseball game while the group watched through the window as they had a little dinner and a show for themselves and ate their food while still watching the kids at play as Atticus and Mo looked at each other, bashfully as they thought about their future together.

* * *

Eventually, they finished their food and left the diner.

"Well, for a small town, they make good eats," Lionel burped. "I figure we'll head back to the hotel now."

"Yeah, guess so," Cherry nodded before yawning a bit. "We'll share Thor's little memory before we settle in for the night and get some sleep for a new day tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." Atticus agreed.

They soon went back to the hotel as it was getting darker and it was night time as the three hedgehogs wandered onto the field together. The group soon showered, brushed their teeth, changed into their pajamas, and got settled for the night.

"Hello?" Cherry answered her cell phone before rolling her eyes with a smirk. "Yes, Bruce, we're fine. You have nothing to worry about over here, I doubt Darkseid, Sombra, or The Joker will even think to look for us here. You just have a good night with Aunt Selina."

"1, you guys killed Darkseid, at least, that's whatcha told me," said Lionel. "2. I gave Sombra the great-granddaddy of all beatin's. He'll think twice before messing with us again, and 3. Joker don't even know where we are! But yeah, you two have fun."

"At least he looks out for me like a dad." Cherry then said to Lionel as she lowered the phone briefly.

Lionel nodded as he looked happy for Cherry in that case scenario.

"Okay, see ya, Bruce," Cherry said on the phone again. "We'll be back later. Okay, bye." she then said as she hung up, then lay flat on the bed with a bit of a deep sigh before giggling as she made snow angels on the bed.

"Now where was I...? Oh, yeah; the flashback!" Lionel replied as the screen got all ripple-y.

The others nodded as they decided to chill out and listen to the story.

* * *

_Thor was soon shown in the Watchtower kitchen, making some sandwiches as he hummed to himself before he heard a ringing and answered his Spell Phone. "Y'ello?"_

_"Hey, Tiny," Drell said on the other line. "Your favorite uncle's got some new spells for ya."_

_"Hmm... All right," Thor said with a sigh. "I'll try to memorize them while I'm kicking villain butt and kicking my butt out here... Well, I DID wanna be part of the Justice League with the others." he then shrugged to himself bashfully._

_"Hey, relax, kiddo," Drell replied. "These are the kind that throw your opponent off guard. Now, just repeat after me..."_

_"Though I'm at the bottom, I'll rise to the top; it's high time for a gender swap?" Thor recited, as a bright light surrounded his body._

_When the light faded, it seemed that nothing had happened._

_"Uncle, I don't think it worked," The young warlock said... With a noticeably higher-pitched voice. "Maybe I said it wrong?"_

_Just then, Lionel came into the kitchen. "Alright, Thor; what kinda sandwiches are ya making to--" he started, before he trailed off at what he saw._

_In Thor's clothes was a tall, brawny, blue-haired young woman with her hair going over one of her eyes and purple lipstick. Lionel's face went red, steam shot from his ears like a train whistle, and he barked like a seal before he let out a happy howl._

_"What?" The young woman asked. "What is it?"_

_Lionel fell to the floor before bringing out a hand mirror._

_The young woman took the mirror and let out a small gasp as she jumped back and touched her face. "I-Is that me?" she then asked._

_"Hey, kid, you still there?" Drell's voice asked on the other line._

_"Uncle Drell, I think I'm a girl now." Thor said bashfully as he picked up the line._

_"Thor, is that you?" Drell asked. "Gosh, I guess it did work!"_

_"Yeah... I should probably get Lionel to a cot or something," Thor replied. "I'll talk to you later, Unc!" And (s)he quickly hung up, then placed Lionel on a nearby cot with an ice pack on his head, before she resumed her sandwich preparations._

_Lionel groaned a bit, though he seemed to smile._

_"Hey, Thor, did the guys change the WiFi password? Cuz I swear I'm not getting anything." Cherry said as she walked into the room, carrying her laptop._

_"Try turning off your laptop and back on again," Thor suggested. "I know it's a hassle, but something you just have to."_

_"Thor, did you inhale helium or something?" Cherry asked before looking over and had a startled yelp, dropping her laptop on the floor, feeling a bit concerned, though she seemed to feel bashful around the gender-bent Thor._

_"Oh, Cherry!" Thor gasped before using magic to restore the laptop back to perfect condition._

_"Who the heck are YOU?!" Cherry asked._

_"It's me, Thor!" Thor smiled. "Uncle Drell gave me a gender-swap spell!"_

_"...How is that NOT the weirdest thing you have ever told me?" Cherry deadpanned._

_"Wait... That's Thor?!" Lionel exclaimed as he woke up. "He... Um, she... Is TOTALLY SMOKING HOT!!"_

_Thor blushed a bit at what Lionel said._

_"Back up," Cherry groaned as she held her head before looking at the young warlock. "If you're Thor, then prove it."_

_"Let's see..." Thor paused. "My middle name is Fraser, I love making sandwiches, we're both very close like Atticus and Mo with that one Japanese transfer student who leads The Powerpuff Girls Z, I have a little sister named Phoebe..." he then listed._

_"Hmm..." Cherry still looked doubtful._

_"And I have a kiss that can numb your tongue in an instant as if through magic." Thor then smirked._

_Cherry cupped her mouth with wide eyes._

_"Uncle thought this would be a good disguise spell." Thor then explained as he posed a bit in his new feminine body._

_Lionel squinted. "Well, I'm not convinced," he replied, getting close to Thor's face. "Numb tongue, riiiiiiight. Anyone can TALK a big game, but you gotta walk the walk too, so prove it!"_

_"You wanna risk it?" Thor smirked as (s)he narrowed his(her) eyes in determination._

_"Gladly!" Lionel exclaimed as he leaned further in and kissed his friend._

_Thor then grabbed Lionel's face and kissed him deeply with a very special kiss that was a bit enticing to both Cherry and Lionel. Lionel had wide eyes with rosy cheeks from the kiss._

_Eventually, Thor let go and stepped back with a small smirk. "Speak, my minion." s(he) then said next._

_Cherry glanced between the passionate kiss before looking at Lionel to see what would happen next. Lionel's eyes went blank and he tried to speak, but it came out as unintelligible babbling. Thor smirked a bit._

_"...Thor?" Cherry called weakly._

_"Present~" Thor still smirked. "Via Rule 63."_

_"Rule 63?" Cherry asked._

_"Inside joke, but it's me, just... Different..." Thor replied as she began to put her hands around her body. "Hm... I kinda like this figure... I'm gonna need a new name though."_

_Lionel wrote something down on a sign and held it up. ELECTRA, it read._

_"Electra..." Thor smiled while taking a look at the note. "That sounds wonderful."_

_"It fits," Cherry nodded. "Now let Lionel talk again, I can't stand it when he gets like this."_

_Electra nodded and snapped her fingers so that Lionel could speak properly again._

_"...Okay, I believe you..." Lionel blushed. "You've made your point..."_

_Electra giggled before she suddenly went back to plain old Thor._

_"Well, at least you have a way to turn back." Cherry shrugged._

_"I didn't do that." Thor replied._

_"If I could interrupt, I did that," Drell's voice smirked. "I thought I'd handle that while you guys took in the new and improved gender-bent Thor."_

_"W-Well, thanks." Lionel replied. "But he's fine either way."_

_"So, this gender-bender spell is for disguises?" Cherry asked._

_"Yeah, no one will see it comin'," Drell's voice replied. "Except of course for maybe that Rule 63 Universe on a different Earth."_

_"Is that the one where we're all the opposite sex of each other?" Thor asked._

_"Yeah, I'll tell you more about that some time in the future," Drell's voice replied. "There's infinite Earths out there, ya know... Such as this one we live in... One where you have different lives... Also that one universe that Sabrina--... I mean Jane Hart lives in now with that world's Hilda and Zelda, along with a kid named Eric Needles."_

_"Good to know." Thor smiled and nodded as he copied the spell down in his notebook._

_"Glad to know that she's doing just fine." Lionel replied._

_"Yeah, I miss her sometimes, but her new life is for the better." Drell's voice replied._

_"Thanks, Uncle," Thor smiled. "I'll put this spell to good use."_

_Cherry and Lionel both looked bashful about that option._

_"Well, that ought to be fun..." Lionel chuckled._

_"Hmm... I guess so~..." Thor smirked a bit._

_They all shared a bit of a laugh before Atticus and Mo walked by in confusion. The group then shared a laugh together after the flashback ended._

* * *

"That was an odd spell, but glad to see it's come in handy in recent years." Mo smiled at Thor.

"It sure has," Thor replied. "But I guess we'd better get some shuteye for tomorrow."

"Yeah," Cherry added. "I'm really full and I've been in the car all day, so you know what that means."

The others agreed as they made their final payments and soon left the diner to go back to their hotel.

* * *

As they left, the lights came on at the baseball field as a certain trio of hedgehogs stumbled into it.

"Aw! So cool." Sonic smiled.

Manic began to look over the dug-out to look for anything valuable as he had a bit of a bad habit of taking stuff that didn't belong to him, though he pouted as he couldn't find any money or special possessions. "Nuthin' hear but a bunch of bats and balls." he then told his siblings.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Sonic asked his brother. "Those kids from earlier were playing with them, and they were having a blast! I bet we could too!"

"You guys play," Sonia said. "I don't wanna get myself dirty."

"Aw, come on, Sis," Sonic told her. "Unwind a little, huh?"

"...Well, maybe just for a little bit." Sonia then said.

And so, the three hedgehogs all got into position to play a baseball game by themselves.

"Bottom of the ninth tie score, and exactly who you want at the plate with the game on the line, Sonic." Sonic smirked as he picked up the bat while at the pitcher's mound as Sonia acted as the umpire and Manic was the pitcher.

"But staring him down from the pitcher's mound is the fiercest south-paw in Green Hills, it's Manic!" Manic smirked back as he wound up his arm with the ball in his hand.

"Okay, focus, Sonic; if you win this game, you'll be the most beloved kid in all of Green Hills..." The blue hedgehog muttered to himself. He then zipped to the other position and did a bunch of gestures, which included doing armpit farts. "Hit it to the guy at left; he's a real space case!" he remarked before zipping to the outfield and blowing a bubblegum bubble.

Manic rolled his eyes. "Ugh, I can't with that guy..." he remarked in a joking manner.

"Hey, batta Sonic! Swing, batta, swing, Sonic, swing!" Sonia called out as she made finger gestures behind her blue brother for Manic to see.

Manic soon pitched the ball with a smirk before Sonic swung the bat and was able to hit the ball, making it fly through the air.

Sonic was soon shown to be sniffing a flower in the ground before seeing the ball and went to catch it. "I got it! I got it!" he called out before falling as the ball landed in front of him, away from his mitt. "I don't got it."

Sonic then zipped back to first base, and began running the bases, while he tried to tag himself out with the ball, but he dodged the flying projectile.

"Go home! Go home!" called Sonic as he ran towards home plate.

Sonia punched her glove. "C'mon..." she muttered.

Sonic took one mighty leap towards home base; Sonia caught the ball, just as her blue brother skidded into the plate.

"Safe!" The magenta hedgehog called out as Sonic made it just in time.

"Aw, yes, yes, yes, I did it!" Sonic cheered once he got back up. "I did it! Did you see that?"

"If we blinked, we would've missed it." Manic smirked.

"Way to go!" Sonia beamed, giving Sonic a high-five.

While the game was fun with the three of them, they looked all around as it still felt a little lonely with just the three of them for the past 10 years without new friends or even an audience.

"We really are alone," Sonic said slowly as he took off the baseball helmet. "All alone... Forever."

"Sonic, don't say that," Sonia frowned. "We still have each other."

But Sonic was too consumed with grief and anger, as his body began to spark with blue energy. He revved up his feet as he began to furiously zip around the baseball field.

"SONIC!" Sonia and Manic cried out.

When Sonic finally came to a stop, there seemed to be a bit of a boom that filled the whole area around him that made the baseball field lights shoot out before soon, the power seemed to go out all around the town.

"I'm sure no one noticed that giant blue explosion, right?" Sonic said sheepishly at Sonia and Manic.

"Uh, we better get out of here while we still can." Manic replied.

"No kidding..." Sonia agreed, and so the triplets raced off as quickly as they could before anyone could see them.

The blackout did not go unnoticed as there were numerous calls to the police. The visiting group, however, appeared to sleep it off as they were knocked out cold from a very adventurous day to start out their vacation. However, the rest of the town definitely noticed this, but our group wouldn't find out until the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day soon came and everyone woke up, though they felt confused because they set their alarm clock, but it didn't go off.

"Thor, did you sleepwalk and trip over the alarm clock cord again?" Cherry asked sleepily.

"No, Cherry!" Thor promised as he hugged Lionel in his sleep. "I only sleepwalk if I eat pepperoni at 8:00 PM."

"Then why didn't the alarm go off?" Cherry asked before trying to plug the alarm clock back in, but saw that it was plugged in, though it didn't seem to be working. "What? What happened last night?" she then complained.

"Must have been some sort of power outage." Lionel yawned as he woke up.

"Oh, well, we're all awake now, we might as well start the day." Atticus suggested.

The others agreed as they soon got ready to start another new day in Green Hills.

"Also, who was curling up and kissing me last night?" Lionel smirked towards Cherry and Thor.

Thor chuckled bashfully as he seemed to be guilty of that.

"Well, I'll let it slide." Lionel remarked in a playful manner as he went to take a shower.

"I can't help it," Thor smiled bashfully. "He's huggable like a little stuffed animal that can hug back."

"Heh..." Cherry chuckled sheepishly before she got ready by getting dressed in a corner in the room.

"Anything special you guys wanna do today?" Mo asked as she checked her phone for stuff to do, passing by an article on last night's Little League game which featured a boy on the team named Chris Thorndyke.

"I guess we could have a look around," Atticus shrugged. "We saw some pretty cool spots last night before we went to sleep."

"Hopefully the power outage didn't affect them too much," Lionel replied. "Alright, what'd ya see?"

"Well... This is a big surprise." Mo said as she checked her phone.

"What is it?" Thor asked.

"You know that baseball Little League team we saw last night before we went to the hotel?" Mo prompted.

"Yeah?" The others replied.

"Apparently the baseball field those little guys used last night is being blocked off by the Government." Mo then said.

"It must have something to do with that power outage from last night." Lionel suggested.

"What're we gonna do?" Thor asked. "Go explore it?"

"Maybe..." Atticus smiled. "It would be interesting."

"I'm not sure if it's legal." Cherry replied.

"Just saying," Atticus shrugged. "It beats just staying in our room with no TV, internet, or phone."

"Fair enough." Cherry shrugged back.

"That's the spirit!" Atticus replied and the group headed off into town.

* * *

At the baseball field, there was indeed a bit of a ruckus going on with people shutting it down and making sure that citizens wouldn't go anywhere near the zone. There were several men in hazmat suits and camouflage clothes as vehicles drove all around with chattering going on.

"Man, it looks like GI Joe out there." Cherry commented from afar, standing with Atticus, Mo, Lionel, and Thor.

"I'm not sure if we can even go in." Thor replied.

"No way," Lionel replied. "We'd be hard-pressed, even if we were untraceable by radar." As he talked, a large black truck drove onto the field and came to a stop, flanked by four black cars.

* * *

The side of the truck unfolded some stairs down to the ground and out stepped a man dressed almost completely in black with a pair of thin dark sunglasses, and a brown mustache adorning his face.

"That's quite a mustache," Cherry commented. "Is he gonna tie an innocent girl to some train tracks and try to run her over before a hero comes in to help her?"

"Where's he got his mustache wax from, from his ears?" Mo added.

The mustached man soon approached a soldier with a follower behind him as he removed his sunglasses with a smirk. "Are you in charge here?" he then asked the soldier in front of him.

"Yes, I am--" The soldier replied.

"Nope!" The man retorted, a bit immaturely.

"Yes."

"Wrong!"

"My."

"No!"

"Name is Major--"

"I'm in charge!"

"In charge," The mustached man smirked as his follower showed him something. "You've never seen anything like this before. It says I'm the top banana in a world full of little monkeys." he then told the soldier with a cocky smirk.

"Wow." Atticus rolled his eyes.

"Well, this guy definitely has plenty of self-confidence..." Thor remarked.

"Allow me to clarify," said the mustachioed man before making whirring hydraulic noises. "In a sequentially ranked hierarchy, based on level of critical importance, the disparity between us is too vast to quantify," he said quickly, before turning to one of his cohorts. "Agent Stone?"

"...The Doctor thinks you're basic." replied the man in the suit.

"I'm initiating a sweep sequence," The mustached man pressed some buttons located on his glove. An LCD display underneath it came to light. "Ten miles in every direction should suffice..."

The roof of the truck opened, and several drones, which greatly resembled hard-boiled eggs, hovered out of their hiding places.

"Is he still looking at me funny?" asked the doctor, without turning around.

"...Yes, he is." replied Agent Stone.

The mustached man lifted his hand. "Tell him to stop, or I'll pull up his search history." he soon commanded. 

Agent Stone turned back to face the soldier. "If you don't stop looking at the Doctor, he'll take a closer look--" he began.

The soldier shot the man a death-glare. "I'm not deaf."

The doctor didn't seem to care. "And tell him his men report to me now. Blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah..." he mocked.

That set the soldier off. "Excuse me?! Listen, pal. I don't know if you realize who--" he began, before the mustache man turned around.

"Excuse me, Major... What was your name?" he asked.

The Major spoke up. "Benning--"

" **NOBODY CARES!** " The doctor declared loudly. "Nobody cares... Listen, Major-Nobody-Cares, you know why nobody cares who you are? Because nobody cares about your feeble accomplishments," he responded, as he began to circle him like a shark. "And nobody cares how proud your Mommy is that you're now reading at a third-grade level. Have you finished _'Charlotte's Web'_ yet? Spoiler alert, she dies in the end, but she leaves a big creepy egg sac!" he grinned.

As the drones floated into the air, the scientist admired his handiwork.

"Ah, my babies. Hoo! Look what came out of _my_ egg sac!" he declared. "Y'know what I love about machines?" he asked, as he turned around again, spreading his arms. "They do what they're told. They follow their program! They don't need time off to get drunk and put the boat in the water!" he jabbed a finger at the Major. "And you do what you're told: stand over there, on the edge of your personal abyss... And watch _my_ machines do _your_ job."

Major Bennington soon walked off, a bit firmly as Agent Stone looked smug.

"Can ya feel it, Stone?" The mustached man asked his right-hand man.

"I can feel it, Doctor." Agent Stone replied.

"Kiss butt." Cherry muttered.

"It's evolution, Stone," The other man stated as he wiggled his fingers. "IT'S EVOLUTION!"

The Egg Bots soon flew off to go carry on their task as the group ducked down so they wouldn't be seen before they looked at each other. The Egg Bots soon took off to the middle of the forest and began to scan for anything that their creator/boss would find useful.

"Well, guys, I'm not sure if I like that... That... I dunno... Egg guy..." Atticus said. "He seems to be a lot of trouble."

"I think that goes without saying," Lionel replied. "Not to mention that those hedgehogs could very well be in real danger."

"We gonna call the Justice League for back-up?" Cherry asked.

"No, no, let's not bother them, especially on our vacation," Atticus said. "Let's try to save those hedgehogs ourselves. Wherever they might be."

"Well, I'm up for it," Mo replied. "Especially with innocent animals in danger."

"Then we ought to move quickly," Lionel nodded. "Something tells me that this Egg Man has a master plan that won't spell good news for any of us."

The group soon left the field and went to do whatever they could to help out the hedgehog triplets.

The mad doctor was hard at work at his secret base as he checked the screens before his minion approached from behind. "Agent Stone?" he then greeted.

"Doctor." Agent Stone nodded.

"Do you see anything useful in this image?" The doctor asked as he zoomed in on what appeared to be some sort of footprint.

"Nothing at all, Doctor."

"Of course you don't," The man smirked. "Your eyes weren't specially trained to spot The Native American Shadow Wolves."

Agent Stone gave his boss a strange look before the image changed a bit with special readings. "That's extraordinary." he then said.

"No," The doctor smirked as he slithered up behind him. "What's extraordinary is I determined the exact height, weight, and spinal curvature of this creature and my computer can't find a single match for it," he then clarified greedily. "Anywhere... In Earth's animal kingdom. This blackout was not a terrorist attack and that's no Baby Bigfoot. This guy is something else entirely!" he then said with a creepy chuckle. "Divert all search units to the footprint. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for me!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the burrow, the hedgehogs were collecting their belongings.

"Okay, Earth isn't safe anymore," Sonic realized. "Time for plan B: Mushroom World. Gotta take my stuff, essential items only!" he exclaimed, darting all around the area.

"Ugh, Mushroom World is not gonna be fun," Manic complained. "Mushrooms are for plumbers."

"Shh, we don't talk about that." Sonia whispered.

"Come on, guys!" Sonic said as he got his stuff together as Sonia and Manic soon grabbed their personal items next. "Toothbrush, toothpaste, hair gel, night light, funny-looking hat, this half-eaten canteloupe, oh, and my scented candle, my entire comic book collection, beanbag chair... Can a beanbag chair even fit in a backpack?" he then wondered.

"Sonic, stop packing useless junk!" Sonia complained. "We need emergency stuff like toothbrush, toilet paper, and your favorite hairdryer!"

"I don't _have_ a hairdryer, Sonia!" Sonic replied.

"Oh, yeah, that's just me." Sonia then said.

"If anything, guys, we deffo gotta get the rings." Manic suggested.

"These rings?" Sonia asked, holding the pouch up.

"Nice," Sonic replied, before reaching into the bag and getting ready to throw. "Alright, Mushroom Planet, here we come." But before he could throw the ring out, the triplets heard whirring from above.

"Shoot! They're right outside!" Sonia exclaimed. "We gotta go someplace else!!"

And so, the triplets took a few steps back, then took one last look at their cavern home.

"...Goodbye, cave..." Sonic sighed sadly, before he and his siblings headed away.

* * *

The group soon got away from the field and went to Naka Ohshima Park where there were some benches with some trees along with a slide, swing set, monkey bars, a play castle, and anything else a kid would enjoy. Atticus and Mo watched the kids as they looked drawn to them as if they were thinking about having their own children someday as Thor began to feel the same way.

"All right, guys, we need to think of a way to help out," Cherry said. "We don't know much about those strange creatures, so we might need to be very careful."

"Aye," Lionel gave a thumbs-up. "Above all, we CANNOT react in a way that may even suggest any trace of hostility. We need them to trust us."

"Understand, Mo?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, I do," Mo reassured. "We'll approach them gently like any other wild animal, but this time, talk to them calmly and carefully and maybe they'll do the same."

"After all, they might be space animals." Thor replied.

"...Space animals?" Atticus asked out of confusion.

"They don't seem like they're of this Earth," Thor explained. "That's my best bet anyway of where they came from."

"Either that or from a parallel universe," Lionel replied. "Still, close enough."

"I just know they can't be from this world," Thor said. "Probably not in a Lionel sorta way though."

"Never going back there," Lionel rolled his eyes. "That place was horrible. Luckily I found out about you guys before I was officially sent away so I knew where I'd wanna go after I'd get kicked out."

"We should also watch out for that Egg Man," Cherry suggested. "No doubt he'll question us if we find out what's going on around this Green Hill zone."

"Okay, now we're just hammering it in," Lionel remarked. "Now let's go help those hedgehogs!"

With a unison nod, everyone rushed off to find the hedgehog triplets.

"Rollin' around at the speed of sound~" Atticus began to sing.

"Seriously?" Cherry asked.

"It's a good work-out song." Atticus defended.

Cherry rolled her eyes, but they did what they could to find the hedgehog triplets.

"Guys, I think I found something that might be a lead." Thor said.

The others looked over and went to see the young warlock. Thor soon brought out a green quill that seemed to be glowing.

"That has to be one of them," Atticus said. "Good find, my friend."

"Sweet! I helped!" Thor gushed.

"Okay, we have a quill," Lionel stated. "Now we just need to find out a way to track where they're headed."

"You don't happen to have the ability to make some sort of DNA tracker, do you?" Cherry asked Atticus and Thor.

The two looked at each other before looking back.

"I guess we could use a little magic," Atticus replied. "It can't hurt, right?"

"Anything would be helpful!" Lionel urged with a nod.

Thor and Atticus soon decided to use their magic together and soon popped out a DNA tracker in the air before Thor took it and decided to put the green quill inside as it beeped.

"Great, we have a lead," Thor smirked. "I dunno if it'll say who it is, but it should at least give us a location."

Suddenly, the tracker beeped loudly and began to point them to a way of where the owner of the green quill was headed. And with that, the kids headed off in the direction in which they were being led. It took a while, but they soon seemed to be coming up to a simple house in a small neighborhood.

"They're here?" Mo asked.

"That's what the tracker's telling us," Atticus replied. "But I don't see them."

* * *

Meanwhile, the hedgehog triplets seemed to make it inside a new spot as they tried to be very careful and quiet.

"Okay, we made it in... With some minimal damage." Sonia remarked.

"Now to get out of this world," Manic sighed. "So what if it didn't work out on Earth? No need to worry. We'll go to a world with some nice, safe mushrooms."

"Mushrooms that'll be our only friends," Sonic said before groaning. "That sounds awful. I don't wanna do this!"

"We _have_ to do this," Sonia told her brothers. "There's no other option."

Sonic sighed, holding up one of the Warp Rings; just as he was about to throw it down, the police officer that the group met when they first came into town burst inside.

"S.F.P.D! Impending background check," The human man announced, holding up his tranq gun. "Paws in the air!" He aimed his scope towards the three hedgehogs.

"Uh... Meow?" Sonic asked half-heartedly.

The man screamed, which made the triplets scream, and it got them shot with tranq darts.

"Ow!" Sonic cried before dropping the ring and looking at Tom's shirt in a blurry daze. "San... Francisco...?"

The triplets soon began to wobble around the room.

"It sounded like it came from here." Atticus's voice said from outside.

The warp ring soon glowed and it opened up to show the big city of San Francisco with easy access due to the ring's magic.

The triplets then suddenly fell to the floor before the blue hedgehog dragged the bag of rings through the ring's portal. "No..." The three called sluggishly before blacking out.

* * *

Suddenly, the kids came in through the door before seeing the police officer they met yesterday who was named Tom as he stood in front of the three hedgehogs as the ring's portal began to close up.

Tom turned around to see the teenagers behind him. "Hey... You're those kids..." he recognized them. "...What would it take to get you to help me deal with this crazy situation?"

"Nothing much," Cherry replied. "Believe it or not, we've probably seen crazier."

"I better lock these... Uh... Things up..." Tom said as he looked down at the hedgehog triplets.

"Well, we were looking for them," Thor said as he saw his tracker beeping rapidly around the hedgehog triplets. "Just try not to overreact, uh... Officer."

"I'm Tom Wachowski." The man told them.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Wachowski." The kids replied.

"Please, just call me Tom," Tom clarified. "And thanks for your help."

"Sure, sure," Lionel replied. "...It's no problem, really."

A while later, the triplets were in large dog cages, while Tom prodded them each with a plastic spatula. Comparing the blue quill he'd found on duty to the ones on Sonic's head, he realized that they matched up. Thor did the same as he checked the green quill he had that matched Manic's fur and nodded at himself.

"The Blue, Green, and Pink Devils..." Tom realized.

"Actually, I think that girl one is more magenta than pink." Mo remarked.

"I guess now we just have to figure out what to do." Tom said to the others.

The hedgehog triplets soon each began to wake up and quietly snuck out of their cages. Tom picked up his phone before looking startled that the hedgehog triplets woke up.

"Guys... I think I see Donut Lord..." Sonic said wearily.

"Dude... No WAY..." Manic grunted.

"Five more minutes..." Sonia mumbled. "They don't call it beauty sleep for nothing..."

"You can talk." Tom realized.

The kids came a bit closer to take a better look at the hedgehog triplets.

"You're not here to abduct me, are you?" Tom nervously asked the three.

" _You_ abducted us!" Sonic retorted.

"Okay, that's a fair point." Tom had to admit.

"What are you guys?" Atticus asked. "Some kinda cats?"

"And why were you hiding out in my garage?" Tom added.

"We needed to hide somewhere safe and you were the only person we could think of, Donut Lord." Manic told the man.

"Why do you keep calling me that?!" asked Tom.

"Well, you talk to those donuts," explained Manic. "And then ya eat 'em if they get outta line."

"You talk to donuts...?" Atticus asked.

"I so do not!" Tom replied. "...But I guess that's fair."

"Wait, where are all the mushrooms?" Sonia soon asked. "Why are we still on Earth?"

"Wait... Where are the rings?!" Sonic then asked.

"Oh, man!" Manic groaned. "We lost the rings!"

"What?!" Tom asked them, a bit confused.

They soon heard someone driving right over.

"I think we've got bigger problems." Cherry said as she peeked out the window.

"Yeah, and they've got a big honkin' mustache!" Lionel added as the black truck drove up to Tom's house.

"What is this, your mothership?" Tom asked the hedgehog triplets. "I'm not in the mood to get probed."

"No, we've seen this guy," Cherry said. "He's really sleazy and... Weird."

"You think you're worried? I'm not even wearing pants!" Sonic retorted.

"Neither am I!" Manic added.

Tom looked out the window with the hedgehog triplets who soon panicked and Sonia put the curtain over the glass.

"They're coming for us!" Sonic panicked.

"We've got to help them somehow..." Lionel replied. "Maybe by hiding them."

"Help them?!" Tom asked.

"Yes, it's the right thing to do." Cherry told him.

"Help us, please," Sonia frowned. "It's life or death."

Tom looked extremely hesitant as he thought it over before giving in and walked off. "All right, come with me." he then told them.

The hedgehog triplets went to follow, only to fall flat in the middle of the floor as their legs were still a bit numb.

"Little help?" Sonic muffled.

"Guess you're still numb from those darts," Mo said before looking at Tom. "Where do you want them?"

"The best option we have is my attic." Tom replied.

"Then up we go!" Lionel declared as he twitched his nose, poofing the triplets into the house's attic. "...Believe me, you're better off NOT asking about my abilities."

Tom looked a bit wide-eyed and jaw-dropped until Thor smiled innocently as he closed the police officer's mouth.

"Okay, you guys just wait up there until we get rid of this guy!" Atticus told the triplets from down below.

* * *

The doctor was soon examining footprints he found as he stumbled into Tom's front yard as the owner came out the front door. "Hello there! Can I help you?!"

"Good morning, my rural chum!" The strange man greeted as he walked up the road to meet the owner of the house. "I'm from the Power Company investigating the blackout."

"Who dresses like Neo from The Matrix." Thor smirked.

"Um, sure," The man said, not understanding what Thor said as he came up the front steps. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a few readings inside your house."

"No kidding? You're from the power company?" Tom replied sarcastically. "Then you must know my good buddy Spencer; we play softball together."

The man nodded. "Spence.... He's a good man."

"Yeah, c'mon in!" Tom said, as the guy ran up the stairs. "Take all the readings you need... Except... Don't the power company usually take their readings from _outside_ the house? That way they can check if I'm not home... And my buddy Spencer works for the _gas_ company; he's more of an ultimate frisbee guy. So you wanna explain why you think I'm dumb enough to let you walk inside my house?"

"Smart." Atticus remarked about how Tom was acting.

The man soon put one hand behind his back and activated some Egg Bots outside his truck that the kids noticed as they stood beside Tom from the door. "I'm sorry, Mr..."

"Wachowski," Tom told him. "But everyone calls me 'Tom'. Except my dentist, he calls me 'Tim'. It's been going on for so long, it'd be weird if I just corrected him."

Mo snickered a little at that.

"Well, Tom-whose-dentist-calls-him-Tim, you may have noticed that this entire town has been experiencing a power outage," The man said before glancing at the kids. "I'm sure you kids with your MP3s and Hashtags have also noticed."

The group grimaced and shuddered at the awkward use of modern lingo.

"No lights, picked up on that." Tom remarked.

"20 minutes ago, I tracked an energy pulse with a similar signature to the one that caused the disruption." The man spoke as one of the drones scanned the attic.

The triplets were doing their best to avoid the scanner by moving out of its line of sight. They all felt very scared and overwhelmed as this looked bad for them. Very bad.

"Listen, Mr--" Cherry began.

" _Doctor_ ," The man corrected her. "Dr. Robotnik, but my dentist calls me 'Rob'."

"Eh, fair enough, I guess," Cherry shrugged. "My great-uncle calls me 'Suzie'."

"Look, Dr. Robot-Skies, I'm sure what you're here for is very serious; it's got nothing to do with me," Tom said to the man. "You can ask anyone in town. Everyone knows me."

"I bet they do; I'm sure you're hella popular with all the Jebs and Meryls and Billy Bobs in this glorified gas station rest stop!" Robotnik replied sharply. "Bet ya go way back to the days of tipping cows and playing in a jug band!" he then said a bit mockingly as he imitated playing in a jug band. "And maybe someday, you'll achieve your goal of getting a Costco card or adopting a Labradoodle, but the reality is I surpassed EVERYTHING YOU'RE EVER GOING TO DO before I was a toddler."

"Yeah?" Atticus asked.

"You bet!" Robotnik replied sharply. "I was spitting out formulas while you were still spitting UP formula."

"I was breastfed actually." Tom retorted.

"Nice; rub that in my orphan face..." retorted Robotnik. "Mr. Wachowski, are you familiar with U.S. Code 904, title 10, article 104?"

"...Yeah." Tom started.

"Anyone who attempts to aid an enemy of the United States shall suffer death," Robotnik hissed. "...And if I'm the one that catches you, it'll be even WORSE."

Tom glanced a little. "...Worse than death?"

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the attic, the scanning process continued.

"Okay, just a ball, just a normal ball; I'm blending in like a ball." Sonic muttered.

Sonia shushed him. "Stop talking."

"No, you stop talking!" Sonic retorted.

"Be quiet, Sonic!" remarked Manic.

"No, you be quiet, Manic!" Sonic shot back.

"Shh! Here it comes!" Sonia whispered urgently.

"Oh, I hope they don't scan us with X-rays," Sonic said nervously. "I kinda had an embarrassing lunch."

The scanners came a bit closer to where the three hedgehogs were hiding in the shape of balls.

"Don't freak out. Don't freak out." Manic said with a shake.

"Don't freak out." Sonia added.

"I'm freaking out!" Sonic yelped as he got free from the ball pile and rolled out in the floor, making the other balls roll out as Sonia and Manic rolled out on other sides beside him.

Sonic then rolled out of the attic door and ended up rolling down the stairs up to the attic, the stairs leading up, and into a table suddenly that was downstairs. "Why don't you have your staircase carpeted?!" he then cried out before hitting the table.

Robotnik suddenly jerked his head in the direction of the noise.

Tom glanced at him. "...Old pipes." he then covered up.

Robotnik didn't believe him for a second. "Yeah, probably just the house settling. Nothing to see here!" He then shoved his way past Tom and the group and barged into the house.

"Hey!" Tom called as Robotnik made his way into the kitchen, where he found... A raccoon eating a cake.

"Are you done?" Thor asked Robotnik stoically.

"Here's the thing: I'm never wrong." Robotnik replied firmly.

"Well, first time for everything, I guess," Tom told the man as the raccoon went to leave. "Would you like some cake? I've heard raccoons have the cleanest mouths out of any animal who eats garbage."

"I thought that was dogs." Atticus spoke up.

Tom just shrugged at that.

Robotnik chuckled as he decided to take his leave before he suddenly stopped himself as he spotted a blue quill before holding it out. "Look at that! I was right! Note the lack of surprise," he then smirked at them. "Shall we try this again?" he then whistled a tune which summoned an even bigger Egg which soon appeared in front of Tom and the kids beside him while the hedgehogs did whatever they could to make themselves not known.

"I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me where it is," explained Robotnik. "Five..."

"I dunno what you're talking about." Tom said.

"Four..."

"Hey, tough guy; I'm a cop," Tom stated, pulling out his badge. "You're threatening an officer."

"Can't threaten somebody who never existed," Robotnik remarked. "THREE! C'MON, rack your brain; you might be able to come up with some lame excuse to go on living! In TWO... ONE--!"

Suddenly, Sonic raced out into the kitchen. "WAIT! DON'T HURT 'EM!" he shouted.

Robotnik screamed in shock, and then Tom punched him across the face, knocking him to the floor.

"Wow! Nice." Atticus smiled at Tom.

"Well, it is all part of my training." Tom replied.

The Egg soon scanned them as a threat.

"Come on!" Tom told the kids before rushing off as he took Sonic's hand.

Manic and Sonia soon followed behind the group while Robotnik was knocked out cold. The Egg soon shot bullets at them before they suddenly hit the ground to avoid getting hit.

"This feels mondo excessive!" Manic complained.

The Egg soon began to reload its weapons as it was out of ammo right then.

"We gotta get out of here." Thor said to the others.

"Already got it covered!" Lionel replied as he concentrated for a few seconds until his eyes shone brightly, and he and the others were teleported outside, leaving the not-so-good doctor in the house.

* * *

The others sighed in relief.

"Are you an alien or something?" Tom asked Lionel.

"In a way, yes." Lionel replied as Tom unlocked the truck; shortly after, the group climbed aboard and buckled up.

Tom fired up the engines, and soon drove away.

"Where are we going?" Cherry asked.

"Anywhere but here." Tom replied.

* * *

A couple of other black cars drove over as Agent Stone rushed out of one and came into Tom's house. "Doctor! Are you okay?" he then asked as he came beside his fallen boss on the floor.

Robotnik soon got right back up with a bit of a smirk.

"I thought I just saw a guy run out of here with a bunch of kids, so I thought--" Agent Stone began.

"That you should stop them?" Robotnik interrupted with a scoff. '

Agent Stone bowed his head in misfortune then.

"Open your mouth, and say that you thought you should had stopped them." Robotnik then told him.

"I thought that maybe I should check to see if you're okaaaay!" Agent Stone replied only for his mouth to be grabbed suddenly.

"You know what's the hardest part of being the smartest person in the world?"

"Everyone else is stu--"

"Stupid, yes! Way to go! You got that one," Robotnik said as he let go of his lackey. "Whatever these creatures are, it's our job to secure them, neutralize them, uncover the source of their power and if they resist, we take them apart... Piece-by-piece, see what makes them tick." he then added as he put his busted up sunglasses on.

Agent Stone nodded at that.

"Stone?" Robotnik then called.

"Doctor?" Agent Stone replied.

"Call Optical Illusions!" Robotnik requested as he removed his sunglasses before tossing them aside. "Tell them I need new frames. They know the kind I like," he then said as he went to walk off. "Oh, and bring that quill."

"Yes, Doctor." Agent Stone obeyed as he did as he was told.


	4. Chapter 4

**_MEANWHILE..._ **

"Alright, you three better start talking," said Tom as he drove. "Who are you? What are you?"

"We're hedgehogs; I think that's obvious," Sonic replied. "...And we're in big trouble."

"Oh, you're in big trouble," Tom replied sarcastically. "You're not the one who punched some sort of government weirdo back there!"

"That was awesome though!" Thor smiled.

"Thor..." Atticus sighed.

"But it was!" Thor smiled. "You all saw!"

"You think you have problems, dude?" Manic glared at Tom. "My sibs and I lost our rings!"

"Rings?" Tom asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Okay, rings are how all advanced cultures travel between worlds," Sonic explained. "And they're now on top of a pointy building I've only seen once on your skin-tight T-Shirt."

Tom almost looked offended from that.

"So you gotta take us to San Francisco and let us get back our rings and use them to go back to the Mushroom Planet." Sonia added.

"Mushroom planet... Right," Tom sighed before he pulled over to the side of the road. "Okay, kids, out'cha go."

"Scuse me, what?" asked Manic.

"This is the _worst_ possible time for me to get myself into trouble, okay?" explained Tom. "You asked me to save your lives, and I did. Now please, go find your rings, and your mushroom land, and hopefully I wake up in a hospital bed, and the doctor tells me my colonoscopy was a big success. Okay, so goodbye."

"Okay, goodbye." Sonic said, stepping out of the truck.

"Goodbye," replied Tom. "...Why aren't you leaving?"

"Because we have no idea where San Francisco is!" Sonia replied.

"It's West." Tom replied.

"West?" The hedgehogs asked.

"Straight shot, can't miss it." Tom nodded.

"Okay, that's cool, fine!" Sonic replied. "We're totally cool with saying goodbye now."

The hedgehogs then took off with incredible speed all of a sudden.

"They might be faster than me." Atticus said to the others.

"Don't get a swelled head." Cherry retorted.

Suddenly, the hedgehogs came back, soaking wet with some seaweed on their heads and Sonic had a fish on his head.

"So, as we crashed into the cold, dark water of the Pacific, we realized a few things." Sonic said.

"A: We have no idea where we're going." Sonia started.

"B: Saltwater stings." Manic added.

"C: We shouldn't even be on this planet right now, but we are!" Sonic then finished. "Why? Because you shot us!"

"Also D: I thought hedgehogs couldn't swim." Thor spoke up.

"The same rules don't apply to hedgehogs from other dimensions," Lionel rolled his eyes. "By that logic, hedgehogs can't talk, run super-fast, have opposable thumbs, or come in colors other than just brown."

Thor then hit himself in the head, cursing under his breath, though in his way. "Sugar Head! You dumbo!"

Lionel rolled his eyes and gave Thor a gentle pat on his head. "That'll do, Thor... That'll do." he told him.

"I know." Tom said to the hedgehogs.

"YOU SHOT US!" Sonic, Sonia, and Manic exclaimed dramatically.

"All right, I heard you the first time, you don't have to pile it on, good grief." Tom told them dryly.

"We're wet, we're cold, there's a fish on MY head, and clearly we're not gonna be able to do this on our own!" Sonic glowered.

"You should help them out," Mo told Tom. "What have you got to lose? We're all gonna help get them home, so you won't be alone."

Tom sighed. "...Alright, get in the truck."

The triplets brightened up. "Really?" asked Manic, as he and his siblings shook themselves dry, causing their quills to frizz up.

"Ooooh, I _hate_ when that happens!" Sonia groaned.

"I guess it is a little bit my fault that all this is happening." Tom replied.

"If by a little, you mean 'entirely', then yes," replied Sonia. "It's a little bit your fault."

"All right, it's entirely my fault, are you coming?" Tom then asked.

"Yes." The triplets nodded before shaking themselves again and their quills went back to their usual ways, though Sonia took out a hairbrush to get her hair to the way she liked it.

"Shotgun!" Sonic then smirked at Sonia and Manic.

"No fair!" Sonia and Manic glared as Sonic chuckled while sitting next to Tom.

"Road trip! Whoo-hoo!" Sonic beamed.

"I think I'll get my car," Atticus said, coming out the door with his friends. "We'll meet you, we'll be right back, promise."

"Okay, I guess, just don't take too long." Tom said with a shrug as Sonia and Manic got in the backseat while Sonic sat up front.

"Well, alright." Lionel shrugged as he followed the others to the Fudo Van.

Tom sighed as he wasn't sure if they had enough time, though he was proved wrong as Atticus rode over.

"All right, Tom, you lead the way!" Atticus smiled.

"...Did you just speed down the road?" Tom asked.

"That's not important," Atticus replied. "We gotta help these hedgehogs!"

"What am I doing?" Tom sighed before he started his car and Atticus began to follow behind as he faced the hedgehogs briefly. "Alright, there's gonna be some rules on this road trip: Number 1. Do exactly as I say all the time. Got it?" he then began.

"Got it, Donut Lord." The triplets replied.

"Would you stop with the Donut Lord?!" Tom complained. "I have a name... It's Tom."

"I dunno, Donut Lord sounds cooler!" Manic replied casually.

"I'm Sonic, green one is Manic, and magenta is Sonia." Sonic replied.

"Sonic... Manic... Sonia..." Tom said to himself. "So you've been spying on us all for years."

"When ya put it like _that_ , it sounds sinister!" Manic exclaimed.

"Besides, I wouldn't call it spying," Sonic replied. "We're all just hanging out, only no one invited us, and nobody knew we were there."

"So yeah, spying." Cherry deadpanned.

"Oh, you sound like a lot of fun," Sonic retorted. "What's your specialty, crackers drier than your sense of humor?"

Cherry just stuck her tongue out in annoyance.

"I can't believe Crazy Carl was right all this time." Tom said in amazement and shock.

"Yeah, you call him Super Observant Carl instead." Sonic replied.

"Oh, my God!" Manic beamed as he pressed his face up against the window. "Stop the car, right now!

"What? What?! What?" Tom gasped.

"'The World's Largest Rubberband Ball'?!" Manic gushed. "We deffo gotta see it!"

"No. No, no, this is not some fun family road trip, okay?" Tom scolded. "The government wants to dissect you guys and arrest me. This is serious." he then warned.

"They're probably gonna go anyway and be back in three seconds," Atticus guessed. "Like old Flash."

And in a half-second, the triplets vanished and were back in the car, but now clad in merchandise from the tourist trap.

"Yeah, you're right, it was lame," Sonic replied, now wearing a cap. "But this is pretty cool!"

Manic took out a paddleball and began bouncing it while Sonic played with his mini rubber band ball.

"I wish it could've been a nail salon," Sonia pouted as she looked at her hands. "I could sure use a mani-pedi."

"Sorry, Sonia, but we can't afford that right now." Cherry said to the magenta hedgehog.

"When're we gonna get there?" Sonic asked as Cherry then noticed he had a mouse pad with him for an old desktop computer.

"We will get there when we get there." Tom said with a groan as Sonic and Manic continued to play like children.

"Who knows how long _that's_ gonna take?" Manic groaned.

"Well, it definitely won't be a boring trip, that's for sure." Lionel remarked.

Sonic tapped his foot with his hands on his hips as he felt bored already, but they would just have to be patient.

"I'm sorry I got you guys mixed up in all of this." Tom said to Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Thor.

"Hey, it's okay, sir," Mo replied. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"And for what it's worth, most of those times are kinda fun." Atticus added.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun." Tom replied as he continued to drive off.

"We're just used to it," Cherry said as she played on her phone. "Hm... Looks like Josie McCoy, Melody Valentine, and Valerie Brown from school are making their own band."

"That should be interesting," Atticus replied. "They were always so talented in Music Class."

"Well, good for them!" Thor beamed. "I always knew they'd make it!"

The hedgehog triplets did whatever they could to pass the time on the road.

"Don't make me sing." Thor smirked.

"You sing?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I know a song I like to share on road trips." Thor then said before he had his tongue out with a silly looking smile.

"Oh, no." Cherry groaned softly.

"Well, don't keep us in the dark," said Manic. "You can go first, then we'll share some of ours!"

"You guys sing too?" Atticus asked the hedgehogs.

"We've been known to dabble," Sonia smiled. "We'd show you if we weren't in this car."

"Sounds good," Atticus smiled back. "You wanna hit it, Thor?"

Thor looked like he was about to hit the car with a fist.

"...Seriously?" Cherry sweat-dropped.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," Thor smirked as he put his fist back in the car to show he wasn't a typical stupid person, unlike "idiotic characters" in cartoons before he cleared his throat and began to clap his hands to go to a beat as a car passed them. "Do ya need a break from modern livin'?, Do ya long to shed your weary load?, If your nerves are raw and your brain is fried, Just grab a friend and take a ride, Together upon the open road~..." he then began to sing. "Come on, guys!"

"All and all, this feels like unnecessary attention~," Cherry then sang back. "All and all, it's better than kissing a toad, but we should be glad our driver's not a klutz because then I would fly out and heave my guts, Directly upon the open road~"

"There's nothing to upset me, cuz now we're on our way!~" sang Atticus. "Our GPS will guide us straight and true!~"

"Everyone back home, please don't forget us, We will return someday~," Mo sang out the window. "Though we may be in traction when I do~"

"When I see that highway, I could cry~" Thor sang as he shed a tear.

"Ya know that's funny, so could I~" Cherry smirked.

"Just bein' out on the open road!~" The group then sang together as the hedgehogs seemed to like the song so far.

"Eh, I've seen worse." shrugged Sonic, as Sonia played her keyboard.

"Nice keyboard." Atticus said to Sonia.

"Huh? Oh, thanks," Sonia smiled. "I've always had a knack for it, ya know?"

"Just like how I kick butt with a guitar," Sonic agreed. "And how Little Bro here kills it on those drums!"

"Aw, you're just saying that cuz it's true," Manic grinned. "If you're done, then we can do our own!"

"Maybe when we get out of the car." Atticus suggested sheepishly.

"Hey, no problem, no need for instruments! We can vocalize!" Sonic declared. "Ever heard of Acapella?"

Sonia and Manic began to vocalize, with Sonic singing.

"Blue streak, speeds by: Sonic the Hedgehog! Too fast, for the naked eye: Sonic the Hedgehog! Sonic, he's faster than sound; Sonic, he doesn't fool arou~nd; Sonic! He's the fastest thing ali-i-ve!~"

The hedgehogs continued to vocalize, acapella style.

"Look out when he storms through, Sonic the Hedgehog! Don't doubt what he can do, Sonic the Hedgehog!~" Sonic continued.

"Sonic: He can really move! Sonic: He's got an attitude! Sonic: He's the fastest thing alive! He's the fastest thing alive! He's the fastest thing aliiiiive!"

"Heh, pretty good one." Atticus chuckled.

"When do we get our own songs then?" Sonia asked.'

"Chill, Sis, let Sonic have his moment." Manic chuckled.

"Hmph." Sonia crossed her arms with a pout.

* * *

Eventually, it began to get dark and Tom was starting to pull up to a gas station.

"Alright," Tom said as he pulled over and stopped the car after what felt like an eternity of driving. "Now I gonna check in with Wade, see if he knows what's going on."

"Well, okay," Lionel replied. "We'll fuel up while you're doing that."

In a BLIP of energy, Lionel re-materialized outside of the car and walked over to the gas pump. After thoroughly cleaning the entire thing, Lionel took the handle of the pump and put the nozzle into the gas tank as he started to fill it up. The others came out of the car to stretch their legs as they had been driving and riding around for quite a while.

"You're gonna see Wade in that glass thing?" Sonic asked the cop. "What is it, a teleportation box?"

"This isn't Doctor Who." Cherry retorted.

"It's a payphone. It's mostly for drug dealers and fugitives from the law, which is us," Tom explained. "Stay in the car, I don't want anybody seeing you. Any of you."

"Oh... Fine." The hedgehog triplets pouted in dismay.

As Tom entered the payphone, Sonia and Manic were in the backseat while Sonic was at the steering wheel, making driving noises.

"Heh... In a way, it's kinda adorable," Lionel remarked. "Guess he's still kind of a little kid."

On the other side of the road, there was a restaurant called 'The Piston Pit'. Several motorbikes parked in front of it and several old-fashioned cars were running their motors. Sonic was clearly getting excited about it.

"That must've been the place Tom told us about when we first rode into town." Atticus said.

"I believe it." Cherry nodded.

"Ooooh!" Sonic gushed.

"Okay, okay, that is the coolest place on Earth, but we have to stay in the car." Sonia reminded her brother.

"Stay strong. Stay strong." Manic added.

Bikers greeted each other via headbutts and there was even an arm-wrestling match. Sonic breathed frantically, before wiping the fog away with his furry arm and a monster truck arrived.

"Mondo cool!" Manic smirked. "I wanna drive that thing!"

"We have to stay where we are!" Sonia told her brothers.

Outside, a man was doing tricks on his motorcycle as Sonic and Manic looked up and saw some sunglasses, before getting an idea.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE..._ **

Tom was busy making a call to his department.

"Hello? Green Hills Police Department?" asked a voice.

"Wade, it's me." said Tom.

Wade sounded nervous, almost hesitant on the phone. "Hi... I'm so glad that you called. Uh, some... Some guys came in, asking me some questions. Uh, a little creepy," he chuckled nervously. "Kinda reminded me of, uh, the guys from Men in Black, but not as, um, likable or, uh, charming as Will Smith."

Tom grew nervous. "Wade, what kind of questions?" he asked.

"About terrorism," Wade replied nervously. "I told them that, like, I've gone ice fishing with Tom. H-He doesn't know how to make a bomb. He can't even make, like, bait in the cold."

The group looked over and began to go over to the telephone booth to tell Tom something.

"Alright, Wade, listen to me," Tom demanded. "This is really important. Don't tell them that we talked, okay?"

"You know, I think they already kn-know..." Wade replied nervously which only meant one thing.

After a couple of seconds, a new voice spoke to Tom on the phone. "Mr. Wachowski?"

"Ugh... Tom." Tom corrected.

"I want you to know that the only other person who ever punched in the face was the school bully," Robotnik's voice smirked. "He hit me in the cafeteria, causing a blunt force contusion to the soft tissue surrounding my orbital bone, humiliated me in front of the entire school, and you know what I did in response?"

"Uh, I'm assuming you reported him to the principal's office, 'cuz y'know, that kind of behavior is really unacceptable." Tom shrugged.

"No. I examined the inefficiency of a world where brawn trumped brain, and I used technology to resolve that inefficiency," Robotnik explained darkly. "The boy ate his meals through a straw for a year, and I have never lost a fight again... Until today."

"Hey, there's a first time for everything." Cherry smirked as she overheard that.

"Shh..." Atticus shushed Cherry as that wasn't helpful.

"Hey, hooray for me then, huh?" asked Tom.

* * *

"No, because you're about to become the bully. With the straw!" Robotnik emphasized. "I'm coming for you, Mr. Wachowski. And when I catch you, I'll--" But Tom just hung up. "Hello? Hello? Hello, hello, hello?"

"I think he actually, um, hung up," said Wade. "because I noticed that the light isn't on."

Robotnik shot him a deadpan glance. "Thank you, Officer Brainfart."

"If you give me a second, I can get an outside line." suggested Wade.

"No..." Robotnik said as he put the phone back. "Don't be bothered. You just sit there and be you... Seless."

And with that, the doctor and his cronies made their leave, with Wade still at his desk. "No one's gonna... Erase my memory here?" he asked. "I will tell people about this!"

* * *

"All right, I guess I should get you guys some food." Tom said to the group of kids beside him.

"Yeah, and the hedgies." Mo added.

"...Erm, yes, the hedgies." Tom then nodded.

They soon stepped into the gas station to get some food for themselves and the hedgehog triplets.

"Food! Glorious food!" Thor beamed as he went running down the aisles to get some snacks.

"Time to do a little shopping." Atticus said to the others.

"Okay, we'll split up and cover more ground," Lionel explained. "Then we meet back up at the register. On three. 1, 2,3."

"BREAK!" The group exclaimed before they split up to get to finding food.

Everybody went to pick out whichever food they liked the most.

"Zebra Cakes... Zebra Cakes... Zebra Cakes... C'mon, Zebra Cakes!" Cherry cried out as she went down one aisle.

"Hmm... Maybe some of these Snowballs?" Mo wondered. "I wonder who Little Debbie even is?"

"Some lady, I guess," Cherry replied. "Either that, or they went the Wendy's route and named them after a daughter or something. Now where are those damn Zebra Cakes?"

* * *

**_Elsewhere in the aisles..._ **

"Cheese Doodles, in both crunchy _and_ original variants? A-yoink!" Lionel declared as he plucked some bags from a nearby shelf while riding in the shopping cart.

"I think these are a Cheese Doodles or Cheetos knock-off brand." Thor said as he found something.

Lionel took a look to see what Thor found.

"Something called Cheesy Poofs." Thor said as he showed the bag.

"Geez, these knock-offs are popping up everywhere nowadays," Lionel remarked. "Kinda crazy when you think about it."

"Tell me about it," Thor said. "It's worse than the magic restrictions to conjure up copyrighted merchandise like N&N's or Rollerblahs, Schnickers, Butterthumbs, and if you're thirsty, there's Diet Popsi and 'Hey, Over Here'."

Lionel rolled his eyes before they began to look for decent snacks and drinks to have on the road with them.

"Found you, you little stinker!" Cherry's voice exclaimed before moaning passionately.

Lionel and Thor looked nervous before peeking out to see that Cherry was hugging a box of Zebra Cakes in relief.

"That's right... That's right... Come to Mama~..." Cherry gushed.

Lionel and Thor both wiped their heads with a relieved sigh before they continued on with their own shopping.

* * *

Eventually, Tom got everything he needed and went to go outside after checking out. The group soon did the same as they got their stuff put into bags.

"Okay... Not exactly the healthiest meal, but..." Tom said as he came out to his car only to see that it was empty. "Guys?" he then looked over at the Piston Pit, putting two and two together and put his groceries on the front of the car and ran off into the biker bar. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

The group began to leave the gas station and saw Tom running inside.

"Aw, man," Cherry said. "He's gonna get himself killed in there."

"No way," Lionel replied as he put the groceries inside. "But we should at least make sure they don't get hurt."


	5. Chapter 5

And so, Tom and the group stepped into the biker bar and looked around, seeing a mechanical cow and eventually Sonic, Manic and Sonia, at a nearby table, with Sonic wearing a cowboy hat. The group walked towards them and bumped against the table, as Tom cleared his throat. 

Sonic turned around, wearing the shades he found. "Howdy, pardner!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, tipping his hat.

"I'm not your partner," said Tom. "Come on, we're leaving."

"But there's a ZZ Top cover band!" Manic protested. "You gotta see their beards! They're all hairy!"

"Weird enough to catch 'em some other time," Tom replied, hustling the triplets from their seats. "Let's go, get up."

"If we stay, I promise we won't say another word for the rest of the trip, starting... Now." Sonic promised.

Manic and Sonia looked angelic from that too.

"Et tu, Sonia?" Cherry asked the magenta hedgehog.

"I got bored waiting for these two, so I thought I'd step inside too." Sonia shrugged.

"Welcome to the Piston Pit," A waitress smiled as she came by. "What can I get you, fellas?"

"Oh, I want nachos and Buffalo Wings..." Sonic spoke up. "Oh, and guac. Funny word, isn't it? Guac, guac. Guac." he then repeated over and over like an annoying little kid.

"Hey, no kids allowed in here," The waitress soon said to Tom. "What's do they have on? Some kind of masks? I'm also gonna need to see some ID on those guys." she then said with a look to Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Thor.

"Oh, they... Uh... They're actually 43 years old and, um, suffer from a very rare skin disease, that stunts their growth and makes them look, um, like... Like that." Tom explained to the waitress.

"What're you talking about?" Sonia smirked. "I'm gorgeous!"

"Same here, Babe," Manic smirked. "Maybe we could make something work. It ain't easy bein' green."

"The faces we were born with," Sonic added. "The confidence, I picked up along the way."

The waitress smiled for a bit, seemingly uncomfortable.

"Better get them some Mellow Yellow," Cherry said before grimacing. "No matter how much I'd prefer Mountain Dew."

"And I'll have orange soda!" Lionel spoke up. "And root beer for my compadres."

"...Okay." The waitress replied as she walked off. 

Tom took off his hat as he sat down with the others. "You owe me one." he told the triplets.

"But I never sat in a barstool before. So squishy!" Sonic gushed as he shuffled around in the chair. "Oh, look at this! It spins!" he gasped.

"No way, I wanna try! WHEEEEE!" Manic exclaimed as he began spinning on his barstool. "...Okay, I feel sick now." he groaned as his cheeks puffed out.

"Are you having fun?" asked Tom. "You're gonna check this off the old bucket list, huh? Big night for ya."

"One Mobian minute," said Sonic. "What's a bucket list?"

Thor spoke up. "A bucket list is, uh... It's a list of things you wanna do in your life before you, well, kick the bucket!" he explained.

Sonic's eyes lit up. "I've never kicked a bucket either. Oh, I gotta make my list!" he exclaimed. In the blink of an eye, Sonic grabbed a complimentary pen and a receipt and came back to the table, where he began jotting things down like crazy. However, he stopped after a while, looking rather sad.

Sonia and Manic began to look concerned for their blue brother.

"What?" Tom asked out of concern. "What's the matter?"

"There's so much stuff we've never done and now that I'm leaving Earth forever, I guess we missed our chance." Sonic said softly and sadly.

"Well, I guess this is the kind of place you can get a lot of living done in a short period of time." Cherry shrugged.

"Yeah, I suppose we could spare an hour." Atticus added.

"That might be a good idea." Tom agreed.

"What? You're gonna 'bucket list' with us, dudes?" Manic piped up.

"Sure, why not?" Thor shrugged with a small smile.

"You won't regret this." Sonia smiled back.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure we will." Tom said with a nod.

* * *

And so, the group and Tom aided the triplets in filling out most of their bucket list, even if there were some bumps along the way.

"Glad _you're_ having a good time." said Tom with a snarky tone.

"I _am_ having a good time!" exclaimed Sonic. "We're having the best time! What could go wrong?"

Lionel sighed. "Aaaaaaand there it is." he remarked, as three burly bikers approached the table.

"Can we help you?" asked Mo.

The first thug glared at her. "We don't like your kind around here."

Sonia looked like somebody had just spit in her face. "Our kind? What kind is that?" she asked.

The thug leaned forward. "Hipsters."

The group all looked taken aback.

"How dare you...?" Sonic exclaimed, insulted.

"Took the words right outta my mouth!" Lionel agreed.

"Oh, hey, you know what?" Tom spoke up feebly. "We were just leaving anyway, weren't we? There's not a problem."

"No, no, no! It's okay." Sonic reassured as he looked confident.

"No, no, no, we're leaving." Atticus suggested.

"I know exactly how to handle this situation," Sonic smirked before he grabbed a bottle and stood on the chair while facing the biker gang without fear, almost like Clint Eastwood or any other action hero. "Pop quiz, hotshot. You just picked a fight with a poorly disguised hedgehog who's seen way too many action movies. What do you do? What do you do?" he then asked with a grave voice before jumping up and knocking the thug's head with the bottle. "HA!"

The man only grunted as the bottle didn't do anything but make him angry.

"Huh. Am I crazy? It's supposed to break, right?" Sonic asked before he looked at the bottle and tried again and again as the thug got more and more angry in the process. "Dink. Dink, dink. Break, please. Break, please. Break this bottle, please. Please, please, please, please, please..."

"Ooookay, that's enough sugar for you!" Mo said nervously as she moved Sonic out of the way before looking bashfully at the biker. "Get goin'... You little cutie..." she said to the blue hedgehog before facing the biker. "He's a bit excitable... The last biker group we met thought he was a scream!" she then falsely bragged. "...Thirsty?" she then added weakly.

The thug pulled his arm back, but Manic yanked Mo out of the way as the fist hit Tom in the face, knocking him back against some other patrons. That, of course, led to a bar fight. Tom got into the fight and punched another man, as the group joined in and started beating up some of the people.

"Nice going!" Tom exclaimed.

"Thanks! It's awesome, right?!" Sonic asked. "Alright, who's next? Who wants some? Who do we get to beat up?"

As the brawl continued, nobody paid the triplets any attention.

"Speaking of next," said Manic as he looked around. "Hey, has anybody seen our waitress? Still waiting on those Buffalo Wings!"

Thor began to hyperventilate a bit during the chaos and damage set off in the bar.

The burly thug cracked his knuckles as he looked like he was about to hurt Sonia. "You're gonna pay for this, Pinky, you and your little friends." he then threatened.

"Why, you..." Sonic glared protectively before he charged toward the man and jumped over him, repeatedly hitting his head with his gloved hands and with a flip, he landed behind his opponent. "Ha, ha, ha!" he then smirked. "You're welcome, Sis."

"Great job, Sonic, but I think he's going after you now." Sonia deadpanned as the man was still standing.

Indeed, the magenta hedgehog was right as the thug, unaffected, turned around as he looked outraged and growled like a wild animal.

"Uh-oh." Sonic gulped.

"Whoa, dude, are you okay?" Manic asked Thor as the young warlock was still hyperventilating. "You don't look so good."

"I'm getting angry," Thor panted as he tried to calm himself down. "I lose control of my magic and powers when I get angry."

"Relax, grande, I got this!" Sonic exclaimed as he began to move at Trans-Sonic Speed: so fast, the world looked like it was standing still.

First, he took a selfie with someone whose tooth got knocked out, before colliding with a rogue boot. Sonic then saw Tom. So he sped to his partner and the two men who were holding him. He yanked the cap of one of them over his eyes and gave the other one a wedgie, hanging the end on an eagle ornament. He pushed Tom towards the bar, passed him a drink and ran to the waitress, who dropped a platter of chili dogs. He quickly eats them, burped, grabbed two sparklers and sauce bottles. He partied with the sparkles while showering some other patrons with sauce, drew a face on one of them and put the fireworks into his ears. Two other men were wound in toilet paper. Sonic then pulled a bunting line through the legs of the remaining customers, walked along the ceiling and wound the end around a fan. For his last act, he grabbed a nearby bear head, hopped over the heads of the customers and put it over the thug's face. The hedgehog then put his jacket and hat back on, grabbed a napkin and did a bull tamer's pose as we go back to real-time. Virtually everyone but Tom, the group and the thug collapsed onto the ground, as the latter continued to run towards Sonic.

"Olé!" Sonic smirked as he moved the napkin after the great big fall.

Sonia and Manic then applauded Sonic's efforts. The thug flew through the window and landed outside. Tom looked around, holding his drink, dumbfounded.

"Holy cheese!" Atticus blinked. "He went Trans-Speed on us!"

"More like Trans-Sonic Speed." Cherry remarked.

One of the guys wrapped in toilet paper stumbled forward before falling down.

"So, should we get outta here?" Sonic suggested as he sped on top of the bar.

"Yeah, time to go." Mo nodded.

* * *

They soon left the Piston Pit, chased by the other patrons as Tom laughed.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! That was amazing!" Manic beamed.

"Oh, wait a second," Sonia spoke up. "Did we even pay our tip?"

"It doesn't matter!" Sonic replied before he saw the hood of the car. "Oh, watch this, watch this! I always wanna do this." he then slid over the hood of the car and threw himself into the front passenger seat with a laugh.

"Get 'em!" A patron called out.

"See ya, suckers!" The hedgehog triplets called out from the window as the entire customer base runs after the Toyota as they drove away, but the snacks that Tom bought fell off the car as it hit the road again.

"Boy, we sure had a helluva time, eh?" Lionel chuckled as he started in on his cheese-doodles.

"Yep! A barhouse brawl was had by all!" Thor replied.

"I'm just glad nobody important got hurt." Mo said with a sigh of relief.

"Same here," Atticus added. "I thought my crystals would get triggered a bit."

"I don't think you have to worry about those anymore." Cherry reassured.

"Crystals?" Tom asked.

"Don't ask." The others replied which just made him shrug.

* * *

Soon, they were back at the hotel the group was staying at for the night. Tom had some ice to soothe the bruise on his head, while Sonia was using the hair products provided, Manic was channel-surfing, and Sonic was bouncing on the bed.

"The floors were sticky, the crowd was rough and the odds were against us," The blue hedgehog recapped. "But there was no stopping Donut Lord and the Blur Trifecta!" he sped over to the other bed. "Scratch another one of my list!"

"You are some weird little dudes." Tom said to them.

"I think you mean dudette in my case." Sonia remarked.

"Um, yeah, sure." Tom shrugged.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Sonic asked.

"I'm gonna pass out watching TV," Tom replied. "You should too."

"But this is our last night on Earth!" Manic cried out. "We should soak up every last second."

"Alright, well, anything you can find to do in this room, you knock yourself out." Tom shrugged.

The hedgehog triplets shrugged before they soon sped around, changing channels on the television, balanced on one of the lights, played with toilet paper, had a brief pillow fight, and several other things, before disappearing into the bathroom. They soon came back out, wearing slippers, and towels wrapped around their chests and quills, though Sonia's towels were hiked up a little higher above her chest compared to her brothers.

"Good times, eh, guys?" Sonic chuckled to his siblings.

"The BEST!" Manic nodded.

"I will admit, despite the circumstances, we've made so many good memories tonight." Sonia chimed in.

"Oof..." Sonic groaned before he let loose some gas if you know what I mean before he smiled in relief.

"EWW! SONIC!" Sonia complained.

"Oh, come on, that's awful," Tom added. "What did you eat?"

"I think it's called a chili dog." Sonic replied.

"You might wanna check your fur on that one, buddy." Tom suggested.

Sonic soon decided to take his improvised bathrobe off.

"Hey, so, what's this next planet you're supposed to go to like?" Tom then asked.

"It's no Earth, we can tell you that," Sonia replied. "There's no people, just breathable air and giant mushrooms and stuff."

"And of course, room for The Three Hedgehog Amigos." Manic added.

"Well, look at it this way," Tom replied. "At least, you won't be the only fungi (fun guy)."

"No," Sonic narrowed his eyes once he noticed the pun. "Don't ever do that again."

"I liked it." Tom shrugged with a chuckle.

"I'm really gonna miss this place," Sonic said a bit sadly. "I know we have to leave Earth to be safe, but what if Longclaw was wrong? Maybe we could have a life here--"

"Alright... You should get some sleep." Tom advised.

"You sleep. Don't worry about us," Sonic replied. "We're gonna stay up all night, enjoying Earth while we can."

Sonia and Manic nodded in agreement.

"Sure, guys. As long as we're on the road by 8:00." Tom nodded.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

Cherry was on her laptop, doing a bit of research on hedgehogs to see if she could find anything special about Sonic, Sonia, and Manic while everyone else got ready for bed.

"You looking something up?" Lionel asked with a yawn.

"Yeah, trying to see if I can find any info on the triplets." Cherry replied.

"Well, I'm not sure if they're too similar to the typical type of hedgehogs you'd find in Europe," said Lionel. "Considering that's where most common hedgehogs are found."

"There must be something," Cherry replied as she kept trying to look, but it seemed impossible to find anything. "I'm not getting anything good though."

"Maybe you should get some sleep and find an answer later." Lionel suggested.

"Hm..." Cherry paused. "...Maybe you're right."

"Attagirl." Lionel yawned as he crawled into his bed he shared with Thor.

Cherry looked over before going to get a quick glass of water before going to sleep. "Drell, I dunno if you can hear me... Or if you're even there, but please," she then said softly as she bowed her head with her eyes shut. "Let us help these hedgehogs and not having them forced into the Mushroom Planet... Wherever they may have originally come from..." she then said as a slight prayer before she drank her cold glass of water and yawned with a stretch as she went to go to get into bed along with the others.

And so, once again, the group was asleep for the night, but fortunately this time, there were no blackouts.

* * *

The next morning soon came as Robotnik was there with his mooks. Two glaziers were replacing the broken window while Agent Stone interrogated the thug from earlier who now had to wear a neck brace.

"Did he say where he was going?" Agent Stone asked the man, showing a photo. "He probably had some college kids with him?"

The thug took the photo for a closer look with a gruff. "Maybe, maybe not," he then said before shoving the photograph back. "Like I'd ever tell you."

"Stand down, Agent Stone," Robotnik said as he pushed his colleague aside. "This well-meaning citizen obviously doesn't understand the urgency of the matter."

"Really?" The thug challenged as he stood up.

Robotnik smiled and flung him straight through the new window as he and Stone both left the restaurant. "Now, that's what I call 'good cop, bad cop'." he then said on the way out.

Agent Stone held up his hand for a high-five, only for Robotnik to punch him in the gut.

"Left yourself open," Robotnik smirked as Agent Stone tried to get himself back up before they came into the truck. "Judging by the quickest route to San Francisco, the approximate speed of their vehicle, local weather conditions... They should be... Right about... Here." he then said, getting a visual on the screen of Tom's car.

"That's brilliant, sir." Agent Stone approved.

"Thanks," Robotnik replied before muttering under his breath. "For nothing..."

"And what about those kids with the fugitive?" Agent Stone asked. "Do they mean anything?"

"As far as I know, they are acolytes with him," Robotnik replied. "They shall be taken care of just as well as him and our main targets."


	6. Chapter 6

Meanwhile, Tom's Toyota sped along, passing the border to California.

"So, what's on your bucket list?" asked Sonic.

"Me?" asked Tom.

"Yeah," Manic nodded. "Everyone has a bucket list, right?"

Tom was a bit hesitant. "Well, sure, but... I mean, you're the one leaving Earth, and--" he replied. "I'm not planning on dying anytime soon."

Sonic gave a confident chuckle. "Don't be so sure. Your best friend is a magnet for danger."

Tom smirked. "Oh, already appointing yourself as the bestie."

Sonic nodded proudly.

"Little presumptuous, but... I mean... What?" asked Tom. "No, I-I like you, of course, but... Y'know, we're not best friends."

"You tucked us in last night." Sonic replied.

Tom snorted at that.

"Okay, best animal friends, but why split hairs?" Sonia shrugged.

"That would be my dog, Ozzy." Tom clarified.

"Okay, let's just drop this increasingly humiliating topic of conversation," Manic spoke up. "Bucket list, give it to us straight!"

"Okay, there is one thing," Tom had to admit. "In Green Hills, I've always felt... I don't know, more like a babysitter than a real cop, y'know? So, I want a chance to prove myself, under real pressure," he then explained. "I'm gonna move to San Francisco, become a street cop. And... I don't know, see if I have what it takes."

"That sounds pretty cool." Mo commented.

The hedgehog triplets had their faces frozen in disbelief at what they just heard.

"What?" Tom asked them. "Wh-Why are your faces doing that?"

"You're leaving Green Hills?!" The hedgehog triplets cried out.

"It is a bit of a small town." Cherry said to them.

"B-B-But why?" asked Manic. "Why would you leave Green Hills, dude?"

"This may be hard for you to understand, but Green Hills is a small town," replied Tom. "It's a very small town."

"Uh, it's not small," replied Sonic. "There are hundreds of people."

"That's a small town, dude." said Tom.

"It's a perfect town and the people need you!" Manic retorted.

Tom scoffed. "Please; I clean out their gutters, I jump-start their cars in the winter," he stated. "They could call anybody to do that."

"Sure, they can call anybody, but they don't," replied Sonia. "They call you."

Tom turned his focus back onto the road. It was quiet for a few moments.

"...Out on the open road!" Thor piped up.

"Not now." Cherry told him.

"I'm sorry." Thor said bashfully.

"...So, uh, do you guys know where you came from?" Cherry spoke up to the hedgehogs. "If you don't mind me asking?"

"We've just been with Longclaw for as long as we can remember," Sonic replied. "She took us in when no one else would, especially to help protect us against the evil forces of nature, such as the Echidna Tribe."

Sonia and Manic nodded.

"All right..." Cherry said before staring out the window. "I was just hoping there was a little more to that."

"Not that we know of I'm afraid," Sonia replied. "I just wish I could find a better dress than these rags... I feel like I deserve better, not to mention Sonic's shoes or Manic's clothes."

"Yeah, those clothes don't suit you guys at all." Atticus shook his head in agreement.

"Hey, not much, but it's all we got," Manic shrugged. "Mobius' wilds can get pretty...wild."

"You're not making any sense!" exclaimed Sonic, standing up in his seat.

"Would you calm down?" asked Tom.

"You come from a great town with great people and, by my count, zero bad guys trying to kill you!" Sonic replied. "Besides, what could possibly be more important than protecting the people you care about?"

"Look, I-I get--" started Tom, before a harpoon flew through the back window, the seats, missing the group, and impaling straight into the Toyota's dashboard. 

Everyone yelped as Tom tried to keep his car steady, shifting lanes so he could maintain his distance, but the harpoon rope began to reel the vehicle in like a fish on a line.

"You know what?! I was wrong about you!" Sonic snapped. "You're not the Donut Lord at all! You're more like... Like ...The _Jerk_ Lord!"

"Have you noticed the harpoon stuck in our dash?!" Tom shouted as he hit the gas, but the spear stayed firm.

"Looks like we'd better take action." Lionel stated.

"I was hoping for a vacation, but let's do this then." Cherry replied.

Atticus, Mo, and Thor nodded in agreement. Tom soon hit the gas, but the spear maintained its grip. When the car slammed against the guardrail, the three hedgehogs flew out of their seats and landed on the hood of the vehicle.

"Guys!" The group panicked for the triplets.

"We were forced from our home!" Sonic cried out as he glowed with his siblings.

"Your home is perfect and you're leaving it, dude!" Manic added.

"Why would you do that?!" Sonia cried out.

The hedgehog triplets then started to illuminate multi-colored lightning as their eyes lit up as well.

"Your bodies!" Cherry panicked.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Sonic gulped as he and his siblings soon saw what happened. "Not again!"

"What do we do now?!" Manic yelped.

"Hey! Hold on!" Tom told them.

"Why?!" The triplets asked.

"Because I'm gonna do this!" Tom replied before looking at the kids behind him. "You guys hold on too!"

The group nodded before Tom soon floored his car to get the harpoon out, but something else happened in the process. The hedgehogs soon flew right off of the car.

"Curl up into balls, guys!" Atticus called out to the hedgehog triplets.

"Why?!" The triplets asked again.

"Just trust me!" Atticus told them as he had a pretty good idea.

The hedgehogs felt unsure, but they all curled up onto balls and did a move that was known as a Spin Dash into the pursuing vehicle which destroyed it and flipped it on its side as the harpoon got out, but it destroyed the hood of the car as well as shattered the window.

Tom put on the brakes and drove back to the smashed machine. "Sonic! Manic! Sonia!" he called.

* * *

Near the wreckage, the triplets curled out of their ball forms, disoriented, but they managed to stand up tall.

"Guess we had a bonus life, dude..." Manic grunted before he and his siblings saw the smashed tank.

"Oh yeah, baby; way past cool! Hedgehogs, 1!" Sonic whooped before he started doing the floss dance. "Big tank, zero! I'm sorry, did we get that on camera?!"

Tom couldn't help but laugh in relief. "How are you not dead?!"

"I have no idea!" Sonic cheered. "Do you see me dancing?!"

"Yeah, we saw you dance!" Mo called.

"Is that all you got?!" exclaimed Sonia.

* * *

Back onboard his mobile lab, Robotnik smirked. "No, but thank you for asking." he replied.

"Okay, guys, I think it's time to go now!" Atticus nervously told the hedgehog triplets.

"Why?" Manic smirked. "The fun's just beginnin'!"

Robotnik soon pressed the holographic image several times and swiped the tank away, revealing a small, spider-like vehicle underneath it. The wheels of the tank were soon retracting.

"Uh-oh." The triplets gulped.

"Guys!" Thor cried out in a panic. "Get back in the truck!"

"You go!" Sonic called back. "We'll catch up!"

As the Tacoma reached its normal speed, the hedgehog triplets soon sped after it as Sonic opened the door, got back inside with his siblings, and soon sat down with them as the door shut. The second phase had started; the spider truck soon sped after them.

"I think that tank just had a baby..." Sonia spoke up uneasily.

"Should we use our powers?" Atticus asked the others.

"It might be our only chance to get them out of this alive," replied Lionel. "So nix the hesitance, make like Nike and JUST DO IT!"

A thunder cloud soon came into the sky before being followed by several others.

"...What an unexpected rainstorm." Sonia said as she looked out the window.

"Stop the car." Thor said.

"What?!" Tom asked.

"Just do it," Thor replied. "Let me and my friends get out of the car and drive off without us for a while."

Tom looked unsure, but he soon did just that as Thor stepped out with his friends in the middle of the road.

Thor soon shot a magic blast at a thunder cloud that hovered over him and his friends as he snatched it in the air with the magical blast. "This might sting a little." he then told the others before a lightning bolt shot out and zapped all of them.

* * *

When the smoke cleared, out came Lady Gothika, Bat-Mite, Superboy, Thunder Boy, and Nature Girl.

"Now let's deliver some justice against this Robot Nerd." Thunder Boy soon narrowed his eyes sharply.

"Yeah! Time to kick some Ro-BUTT-Nik!" Bat-Mite declared as they charged at the arachno-tank.

"Look at 'em go!" Sonic gasped as he looked out the windows with Sonia and Manic.

Nature Girl stomped the ground as she tried to bring out her vines, but looked unable to do so.

"You okay?" Superboy asked her.

"I... I can't..." Nature Girl groaned. "I must be dehydrated."

"Hold that thought." Superboy said before flying off.

Nature Girl then tapped her foot for a few moments.

"Try it now." Superboy smiled as he flew back with a water bottle.

Nature Girl smiled back before taking the bottle and drank from it as that did the trick as she soon made her vines appear to restrain the arachno-tank before the others charged at it at full speed and strength. Lady Gothika was using her martial-arts skills to avoid the mini-mechs that came after her, and Bat-Mite was corroding them with his Rust Ray. Thunder Boy grinned and chuckled darkly as he orchestrated with his hands as thunder and lightning bolts shot out from various clouds that were controlled by him. Superboy shot laser-eyes at many mini-mechs while Nature Girl tied some of them up through vines.

"No way!" The hedgehog triplets gasped.

"Are they okay back there?" Tom asked in concern.

"Dude, you gotta see this!" Manic gushed. "It's like something out of a superhero comic book!"

"Would if I could," Tom replied. "But I'm the guy driving!"

"This is incredible!" Manic beamed. "I'ma get those dudes' autographs!"

"You do that, Manic." Sonia smirked teasingly.

The young heroes continued to do whatever they could to stop Robotnik's machines, even if they were without their adult mentors in The Justice League, they had grown up since then after all.

The arachno-tank fired more discs, and Bat-Mite teleported over to them, grabbed a disc, threw it at another one, used two as skates while he grabbed the remaining one. He landed on top of the robot and looked into the lens, as his face appeared on Robotnik's screen. "Hey, everyone! Welcome back to my Livestream!" he grinned. "Today, we're destroying robots! Step one..." He morphed his fist into a hammer and smashed the machine to pieces.

"Get off of my machine, ya little twerp!" Robotnik glared.

"Nah, I don't think he will!" Superboy's laughter was heard.

Tom soon switched lanes as a loose Robotnik disc flew over to a car in front of them.

"Incoming!" Sonic warned Tom as he kept watching the action behind them with Sonia and Manic.

* * *

Inside was a dad driving, while the mother did her make-up and their two kids were fighting over a tablet.

"It's my turn!" The son glared at his sister.

"You just had one!" The daughter glared back at her brother.

"It's _mine_!" The son snapped.

"Hey, stop fighting or I'm taking that thing away!" The dad threatened.

"Yeah, right, Dad..." The daughter scoffed.

The disc latched itself against the underside of the car and shorted it out, causing the car to spin and its passengers to scream. When the spinning stopped and Tom passed them as the boy held out the tablet.

* * *

"Ever wonder where your tax dollars are going?" Robotnik remarked as one of the Arachnotank's wheels came off and shot after the hedgehogs.

"My turn!" Tom declared, as he unlocked his seatbelt and crawled over to the backseat. "Here. Just keep us going straight. I put in cruise control." he told Sonic, who gladly jumped behind the wheel.

"I feel just like Vin Diesel!" The blue hedgehog laughed. "It's all about family, Tom!"

"I wanna drive next!" Manic complained.

"Right after me!" Sonic smirked. "I'm the oldest!"

"You are?" Manic asked.

"I'unno, maybe." Sonic shrugged as he kept driving.

Spikes soon shot out of both sides of the tank wheel. The cop opened the door and tried to knock out the robot with a bat.

"Quick suggestion: roll up into a ball and smash him with your body." Sonic suggested to Tom.

"Whoa! Where'd you learn how to drive?!" Tom cried out as he almost flew out of the truck.

"Here, in this truck," Sonic replied. "It's happening as we speak. Manic's got the manual though."

The robot still tried to puncture the tire. Thunder Boy was getting a thunder cloud ready for Robotnik, whistling to himself along the way.

"I can't reach it! Bring him in closer!" Tom cried out.

"What?!" Sonic asked.

"Bring it in closer!" Tom asked. "Hit the brakes!"

"Oh. You mean this one?" Sonia asked before she hit the gas pedal by accident which made Tom almost fly out of the truck again.

"The other brakes!" Tom cried out from that.

The car soon slowed down which made the robot slam against the open door. Tom smiled and, with his bat, he slammed against the robot. It then broke down and slid to a stop.

"You did it, Tom!" Sonia cheered.

"Way Past Cool!" Sonic exclaimed.

The group whooped and cheered for their new friend.

* * *

" **OOOOOOOOUGH!** " Robotnik shouted angrily. "GIVE ME A BIG! FAT! BREAK!"

A tiny drone emerged from the camera hole of the destroyed robot and flew after Tom's car; it caught up rather quickly and hovered outside Sonic's window.

"Aw, this one's cute," The blue hedgehog pointed. "Let's keep 'im!"

But then the drone began using a laser to saw through the car's hood, reaching the front.

"Oh, c'mon!" Tom exclaimed.

"How could something so adorable be so terrible?" asked Sonic.

The young Justice League heroes came together.

"Everybody good?" Bat-Mite asked.

"I think so," Superboy replied before looking around. "...Where's Thunder Boy?"

* * *

Thunder Boy chuckled as he lurked behind Robotnik with a thunder cloud, ready to shoot and hit him with it when ready. As the drone reached Toms's window, he attempted to wave away the smoke and sparks. In seconds, the robot finished circling the cab of the car.

"You got car insurance, right?" Sonia nervously asked Tom.

The roof of the car immediately flew off, and Tom and the hedgehog triplets cry out as the roof landed on the road behind them. Now the drone flew back over to Sonic, who grabbed it.

"Buzz off," The blue hedgehog glared as he snapped the drone in half, only to find the base attached to his gloved hand. It then started to beep and blink rhythmically. "That doesn't sound good."

"No, beeping is bad!" Tom panicked. "Get rid of it!

"I'm trying!" Sonic yelped.

"Just throw it out the window... Throw it anywhere!" Tom cried out.

Sonic wildly waved his hand, about to shake the bomb loose.

"Aw, man, it's a sticky bomb!" Lady Gothika cried out. "Can't something go our way like against Sombra and Darkseid?!"

"No sense in whining!" Bat-Mite exclaimed. "Time for action!"

"Alright, I'm pulling over!" Tom yelled as he swung the car off-road, onto a dirt path. Sonic dashed out of the car and desperately attempted to detach the bomb from his hand, even biting it. But now, the damn thing was attached to his head!

"Did I get it?" asked the hedgehog, as Tom ran over with a cloth in his hand.

"Nope." Tom replied. 

Sonic cried out and tried to wipe the drone off his head.

"Here, hold still." Tom said, using the cloth to pluck the bomb off of Sonic's head, then flung it into the distance.

"It's going, it's going..." Sonia started, but as Tom raised his arms, it was shown that the bomb was stuck to his hand!

"NOT gone!" Thunder Boy exclaimed.

Tom tried to shake the bomb off, but Sonic grabbed it, effectively getting it stuck on him again. 

The hedgehog attempted to use a screwdriver to pry it loose. "Get... Off... Me!" he grunted, frantically trying to remove the explosive device.

Sonia and Manic soon grabbed onto Sonic's hand to pull the bomb off and soon slapped it onto a nearby boulder.

"Ha! Nailed it!" Sonic beamed in victory.

The beeping soon got faster which only meant one thing...

KABOOOOOOOM!

The explosion sent Tom backwards and the hedgehog triplets seemed to be knocked out in the middle of the ground together.

* * *

When the dust cleared, Tom regained his consciousness as the group came back over, but in their original forms after leaving their Toon Force outfits behind due to their secret lives. They soon all looked over to the hedgehog triplets who were all lying motionless in the dirt.

"Guys!" Tom and the group, minus Thor, cried out as they came towards Sonic, Sonia, and Manic who were completely motionless.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Tom panicked as he tried to wake them up. "Hey. C'mon, you're all right. Wake up. Wake up."

"Oh, no... We... Failed..." Atticus said, almost on the verge of tears. "I already lost Superman once, I can't lose these guys."

"At least you had parents come back for you." Mo said softly.

* * *

Robotnik leaned onto his desk, heavily breathing in and out.

"Did we get 'em?" Agent Stone asked as he came to his boss. "Oh... No, there they are. They're real survivors, this bunch."

"Can we have a moment?" Robotnik asked as he turned over to his sidekick in utter frustration before they walked away from the monitor. "Pin yourself to the wall."

Agent Stone soon did so.

Robotnik leaned into Stone's private space, almost touching noses. "Do you know why I won't miss you when you're gone?" he then asked sharply. "Human beings are unreliable and stupid, and I care very little about them! But my machines are diligent, relentless... They're everything to me!" he then noticed something in the man's interior coat pocket and decided to reach into it to see that his lackey had the blue quill from Tom's house, not only that though, a vibrant green one and a neon pink one. "Hmm? ...Omoshiroi (Interesting)." he then said in Japanese while examining the quills and tried to taste them only for them to shock him before offering Agent Stone a taste who abruptly declined.

The two then yelped out as they suddenly got hit by thunder and lightning inside which nearly burnt them to a crisp. Thunder Boy chuckled before he was turned back into Thor and soon sprinted off to go back to his friends.

* * *

Later that day, the now-topless Toyota arrived at a house in San Francisco. Tom parked his car and he and the group grabbed the triplets out of the seat, obscured by blankets.

"C'mon, buddies. You're gonna be all right... You'll be all right." Tom muttered as they were carried to the front door.

The group looked very worried about the hedgehog triplets who appeared to be dead.

"Nice house." Atticus said before they went to follow Tom.

"Thanks." Tom replied before pounding on the door to get some help.


	7. Chapter 7

A woman soon came to the door to open it to see him and looked annoyed with him already.

"Is Maddie at home?" Tom asked the woman who tried to shut the door in his face. "No, it's an emer--"

"No, no, no!" The woman glared as Tom tried to get in through the door. "Not today! Goodbye! Bye-bye!"

"No, stop! Don't do this!"

"Bye-bye!"

"What's wrong with this woman?" Atticus complained.

"She has a bee in her undies." Thor narrowed his eyes.

"This is important!" The woman told Tom before another woman appeared.

"No! Oh, my God..." The other woman cried. "Let him in!"

Luckily, Tom and the kids were able to come inside through the door.

"I am calling the police!" The sassy woman complained to Tom. "No, I am calling the FBI! I am calling the CIA! I am calling your mother!"

"Will you **SHUT UP?!** " Cherry complained at the fussy woman.

"Okay, got it!" said the second woman.

"Maddie, can we just--" Tom asked her.

"Tom, what is going on?" asked Maddie. "You're all over the news, I've been trying to call you..."

"I've ditched my phone, so they couldn't track me." Tom replied.

"Ditch?" asked the crazy lady.

"Track?!" asked Maddie.

Just then, a little girl appeared in the hallway. "Uncle Tommy!" she exclaimed as she ran over to Tom.

A warm smile crossed Tom's face. "JoJo!" he beamed as they both hugged until her mother pulled her away.

"Now your niece is an accessory to treason! Are you happy?!" shouted the crazy lady.

"Would you calm down?"

"Calm down?!

"Enough. Enough!"

"I will not calm down!"

Just then, Tom's dog, Ozzy, came into the room and began barking, adding even more to the chaotic cacophony. Fortunately, Tom managed to get everyone to calm down.

Jojo's mother, Rachel, glanced at the things Tom and the others were carrying. "Oh, little lord baby Jesus... What is that, Tom?! Is it plutonium?! Is it emails?!" she asked.

Tom gave a sarcastic look. "Yes, it's plutonium," he said in a mocking tone before he turned to Maddie. "Could we please... Could we just go to your room and--" Then he looked to his dog, who was tugging at the sheets. "Stop it, Ozzy! Quit it!"

"This is why I told you he was no good!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Aw, shut up already, ya miserable harpy!!" Lionel retorted.

Maddie just sighed. "I'm... I'm not engaging."

As the sisters continued to quarrel, Ozzy kept on tugging at the sheets.

"Ozzy, quit it! No, Ozzy!" Tom protested. "No, no, no!"

But at last, the sheets came off and the hedgehog trio was revealed.

Rachel began to feel dizzy. "Oh, catch me, JoJo..." she muttered as she fainted, but nobody caught her.

 _"Finally,_ she shuts up!" Cherry sighed.

"Oh, thank God!" Tom gasped as he felt the same way as Cherry.

Maddie looked a bit cross, but not as much as her sister while JoJo gave a cute and innocent smile.

"Can I get some water?" Tom soon asked bashfully.

"Maybe some for us too?" Atticus spoke up sheepishly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Robotnik had some time to himself as he was examining the quills of the hedgehog triplets while jamming out to some music while he worked with his ingenious inventions, passing by blueprints of robot sidekicks which seemed to look like a rooster with a mole that had drill claws and a drill nose with wheels for feet.

"I just thought you might like a latté with steamed Austrian goat milk." Agent Stone piped up as he came by, interrupting his boss a bit.

"What do I look like, an imbecile? Of course I want a latté," Robotnik replied as he took a cup before suddenly shouting. " **I LOVE THE WAY YOU MAKE THEM!** "

A few beeps were heard, and Robotnik and Stone ran over to the power tube. "Power Analysis: Unlimited" was displayed above it.

Dr. Robotnik gave a fiendish smile. "Ready the prototype..." he ordered. "With this kind of power, my machines can finally reach their full potential!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the house, the triplets were lying on the kitchen table, with Tom and the others keeping a constant vigil.

"They're gonna be okay, JoJo," Tom told his niece, as Maddie walked over to him. "Oh, thank God. They're gonna be okay, right?" he asked.

"I'm a vet, Tom," replied Maddie. "I don't even know what I'm looking at here."

"They're hedgehogs," Lionel stated.

"Or, so he says..." Thor chimed in.

"They talk?" asked Maddie.

"Almost constantly." Tom replied.

The veterinarian held Sonic's wrist, then Manic, then Sonia. With her watch, Maddie tried to determine the hedgehog's pulses. "Holy..." she gasped.

Tom turned to her. "What?" he asked.

"Their pulses are super fast..."

"Well, that actually might be normal for them, I don't know. You gotta help 'em, Maddie."

"I don't know their physiology, but they don't seem to have any broken bones. Just… Really banged up."

JoJo looked worried about the hedgehog triplets.

"It'll be okay, uh, kiddo." Cherry said to the young girl.

"Oh, look at their poor little feet..." Maddie frowned as she looked at the triplets' feet as they seemed to be hurt and the shoes weren't very supportive for them.

JoJo paused before she took a hold of the shoes, looking at the holes in them and Sonia's raggy old dress which seemed to be a bit unfitting for someone like her to wear.

"Oh..." Maddie frowned.

"Hang in there, guys," Atticus coaxed to the hedgehog triplets. "You're gonna be all right."

JoJo soon left the room and Cherry was being pulled along with her as the passed the little girl's mother who was tied to a chair.

"JoJo? Untie your mot... JoJo!" Rachel cried out. "Untie Mommy."

JoJo and Cherry ignored her and walked up the stairs while Thor stared at the woman.

"Sweetie? Jojo?!" Rachel cried out, but it was no use before she sighed in defeat with a pout to herself. "I have to go to the bathroom..."

* * *

Cherry decided to go with JoJo to see what the little girl was getting.

"I might have some stuff for them," JoJo said to Cherry. "I hope they like 'em."

"That's kind of you, I hope so too," Cherry said as she looked with JoJo before taking out a pair of red and white sneakers. "Hmm... These shoes seem to be perfect for Sonic probably."

"Yeah!" JoJo agreed before she took out one of her bigger doll's dresses with boots and opera gloves. "How 'bout these for Sonia?"

"That's perfect," Cherry smiled with a nod. "Now we need something for Manic."

The two girls looked around for a while before finding an orange vest with orange and white sneakers.

"Hmm... Manic still needs something that suits his style... But what?" Cherry pondered.

* * *

Thor soon lifted a barbell in the living room while keeping an eye on Rachel as he wore his spiked bracelets as they seemed to stand out somehow.

"When did you get those?" asked Lionel.

"I _always_ carry my barbells," Thor replied. "No such thing as _too_ buff."

"No, I meant your spiked bracelets," Lionel explained. "First time I saw you wear them."

"Uncle gave 'em to me," Thor replied. "...Why?"

"Hm... Maybe they'd be nice for Manic." Lionel said.

Thor pouted as he put his barbell down and backed up against the wall.

"I could make duplicates?" Lionel offered.

"These are mine!" Thor pouted. "You can't take them!"

"Oh, don't be selfish!" Cherry told him as she carried a couple of boxes with JoJo.

"Promise you won't keep them forever?" Thor asked.

"No, just take them off and we promise we'll give them back." Cherry told the young warlock as she put the boxes down briefly and held out her hands.

"Awww..." Thor pouted before he took off his wrist bracelets and dropped them in Cherry's hands.

Cherry winced as the spikes hit the palms of her hands before she stood them up to make duplicates of them to give to Manic as a gift. 

As soon as Cherry slid them onto Manic's wrists, Lionel put the regular wristbands back on Thor's wrists. "There you go," he told him. "Now everyone's happy."

Thor beamed as he looked happy again while Cherry and Lionel rolled their eyes.

* * *

"They're gonna be okay, right?" Tom asked Maddie as they still examined the hedgehog triplets in the kitchen. "Like, they... Will snap out of this. They'll wake up soon?"

Maddie just sighed.

"Oh, smelling salts," Tom then thought out loud. "Don't you have, like, vet smelling salts, like for cats or... Parakeets or something?

"No, t-they don't make cat smelling salts." Maddie replied.

"They should." Tom suggested.

"I have human smelling salts in my human First Aid Kit," Maddie rolled her eyes before unzipping her kit and grabbed a vial containing smelling salts. "Okay..." she then broke it and hold it by the hedgehogs' noses.

"Come on, guys." Atticus began to pray.

The hedgehogs' eyes flew open before they sped all around the room until they stopped at the kitchen table.

"Gotta go fast!/Let's party hardy!" Sonic and Manic explained as they zipped around.

"Where are we?" Manic asked.

"What year is it?" Sonia added.

"Is The Rock President?" Sonic finished.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys," Mo said to them. "You're okay? Calm down."

"Oh, hi, Pretzel Lady." Sonic then smiled once he saw Maddie.

Maddie felt stunned before looking over at Tom. "Hi... Tom?"

"Yeah?" Tom asked.

"Can I talk to you, please?" Maddie asked as she pulled Tom out of the room as the hedgehog triplets watched on from the counter. "Space Hedgehogs, stay there," she then said as she went to shut the doors on them. "Try to relax."

"You got it. I'm great at rest--" Sonic started, before the doors were closed, only slightly muting his quips.

Tom chuckled, pointing at the door. "Still talking."

"Uh, first of all, can we take a moment to acknowledge how under control I've been?" asked Maddie.

"Uh, amazing."

"Didn't freak out... Totally calm."

They both fist-bumped, and Maddie inhaled and exhaled. "Second of all…What the heck is going on? Is that thing a bunch of aliens?!" she exclaimed.

Tom lowered his voice. "Okay, so… Remember how Crazy Carl is always going on about the Devil Trio?" he asked.

"The Devil Trio? That's them? They're real?"

"Yeah."

"What are they doing here? What are you doing here? And why do you have those kids with you?"

"I... Kinda-sorta..." Tom started. "...Shot them with your tranq gun."

"No, you did not..." Maddie gasped.

"I-I didn't mean to. Okay, this is kinda hard for me to explain... And it's gonna sound a little bit crazy," Tom explained. "They have to get to the Transamerican Building and I'd promised I'd take them. And those kids are helping me." 

"Uh-uh! Aliens? Maddie, your husband's lost his mind," said Rachel. "Can use this as an opportunity to leave him. No one would judge you!"

"SHADDAPAYOUFACE!" Lionel exclaimed, smacking the woman with a wet mackerel.

Rachel let out a yelp as she was suddenly hit.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Atticus told the woman.

"You horrible children!" Rachel glared. "Who taught you all how to behave?"

"Certainly not _you_." Mo said with a smarmy smirk.

* * *

**_Meanwhile..._ **

"So... You're supposed to be Tom's best friend he won't shut up about?" Sonic asked.

A dog was shown in the blue hedgehog's face with his tongue dangling out with a pant.

"Well, I don't see the appeal." Sonic then shrugged.

The dog then started to lick the blue hedgehog's face. Sonia and Manic looked worried before they heard their brother laughing.

"Stop, that is very gross." Sonic chuckled as he felt tickled.

"Uh, guys?" Cherry called to the hedgehog triplets. "JoJo and I got you guys a little somethin' somethin'."

The triplets turned around and saw what their new friends had in store for them. Cherry and JoJo soon brought out some boxes for the hedgehog triplets. The triplets soon each opened up the boxes for themselves and soon found brand new clothes that were just for them.

"No one's ever given me a gift before," Sonic said, feeling flattered and emotional. "I gotta check that off my bucket list." he then said as he brought out the red and white shoes.

"So your feet won't hurt anymore." JoJo smiled sweetly.

"I like mine too," Manic smiled as he saw his orange and white sneakers with a matching orange vest. "Rockin' style."

"Oh, girls! I love it!" Sonia beamed as she took out a brand new dress with boots and opera gloves. "I bet I'll look like a princess in these clothes!"

"Yeah!" JoJo beamed, clapping.

"Now these are some seriously slick kicks!" Sonic grinned as he did some running in-place. "Oh, yeah! Too hot to handle, too cold to hold!"

Manic and Sonia chuckled as they also loved their new outfits.

"I feel so fashionable and proper now." Sonia beamed.

"And I dig the threads I got," Manic smirked. "Not bad, little ladies."

"Little?" Cherry rolled her eyes.

"That was very nice of you to do that for the triplets, Cherry." Atticus smiled.

"Eh, I thought they'd be more appropriate than what they had before." Cherry shrugged.

"Well, it definitely does suit them better." Lionel replied.

Maddie turned to Tom. "Okay... You've said you wanted to help people in real trouble, right?" she asked. "Well, that's what you're doing. And alien hedgehogs still count as people, right?"

"I think so too," replied Tom. "I think."

"Okay." Maddie hugged him for a little.

"I love you. Did I tell you that already?" Tom smiled bashfully. "I don't deserve you. You know that?"

Rachel gave a deadpan glance. "I know that."

"Once again," said Cherry, taking the wet trout. "SHADDAP-A-YOUFACE!" And once more, Rachel got trout-smacked.

Lionel snickered. "Nice shot."

"I'm sick of this witch." Cherry glowered.

"Well, we better check on Tom's truck," Atticus suggested. "I mean, if it still works."

"Hey." Maddie said as Tom came back inside.

"So, my truck still runs, but it's pretty much totaled," Tom explained. "You think your sister would mind if we borrowed her car?"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rachel exclaimed.

"She'll be fine." Mo shrugged.

"Yoinkin' the car!" Thor exclaimed.

"Yeah. Let's do that." Tom nodded, and they raced off-screen.

"This is _my_ house!" Rachel complained.

"We don't care!" The group gave a collect reply to that.

* * *

Rachel's car was driven shakily over the road. The front of it was slightly damaged.

"Coming through!" Sonic called out in excitement as Manic and Sonia helped him out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Now, this is my turn and I'd pull around here! Sorry! And... Perfect park!"

"What are you, crazy?!" A bystander complained from the driving.

"There anything you _didn't_ hit?" Tom deadpanned to Sonic.

"Why did we let the aliens drive?" Maddie complained.

"Hey, we got us here." Manic defended.

"And please, five stars." Sonic added with a smirk.

"Well, guys, it looks like this is it." Cherry said as they came out of the car.

"The big moment," Lionel declared. "The final curtain call, y'all. So let's do it right."

"So, this is it?" Sonic asked.

"That's it," Tom nodded. "That's your pyramid."

"Wow! Look at that thing!" Sonia beamed. "I wish it could be a castle though."

"What happens now?" Maddie asked before the hedgehog triplets suddenly sped away. "Oh. They're gone."

"Yeah..." Tom and the group replied as that was typical.

But the hedgehog triplets quickly came back.

"No good, dudes," Manic spoke up. "You need a special key to get to the roof."

"Looks like we're gonna need some way up there." Lionel replied.

"What now?" Maddie sulked.

"Time for me to abuse the power entrusted to me." Tom smirked.

"Okay," Cherry said. "So what do we need?"

"Some bags because I doubt the three of them could fit in one." Tom suggested.

"Or I could just make them invisible." Lionel stated as he twitched his nose and made them invisible.

"Or that..." Tom blinked.

"I would've suggested human disguises, but that works too." Atticus said to Lionel.

"Just remember to be quiet." Thor whispered to the hedgehog triplets.


	8. Chapter 8

They soon came inside and came towards the receptionist as they knew she would question their arrival.

"We got a jumper on the roof," Tom said as he showed the receptionist his badge. "Gotta get up there fast or we have a human pancake on our hands."

"Y-You came all the way from Montana?" The receptionist asked once she took a look at his badge.

"Yep. That's how serious it is." Tom nodded.

"...Okay." The receptionist shrugged as she looked over at Maddie and the others before giving Tom the key card to the roof.

"You just saved a life." Tom nodded as he accepted the key card.

Lionel sighed in relief as they got into the elevator. "All too easy." he remarked.

Luckily, they had the elevator alone as they were going up to the top to get the rings back. Hopefully, the rings weren't snatched away as they had been there for quite some time.

"I'm bored..." Thor said as they waited in the elevator.

The group stood together before they tapped against the wall and made a few beats before it started to sound like music.

"Go, Young Justice, go, Young Justice, go." Thor whispered to the beat.

The others began to do the same as Tom and Maddie felt confused.

"Go, Young Justice, go, Young Justice, go!" The group began to cheer for themselves as the elevator rode on up.

"I guess that's what we're calling ourselves." Lionel shrugged as the doors opened.

"I thought it'd be a nice nickname!" Thor smiled.

* * *

As the doors opened, they soon walked on through before the hedgehog triplets were now visible again.

"Good job being quiet, guys." Cherry said to them.

"A breeze for me, but I'm not sure about the boys." Sonia smirked at her brothers who narrowed their eyes in annoyance.

"Alright, alright... What are we looking for?" Tom asked the hedgehogs.

Sonic sped to the end of the platform, grabbing his and his siblings' pouch, ran back and showed the group one of the rings. "This!" he then told them.

"Ring-a-ding-ding!" Manic exclaimed.

"Okay, it's portal time, guys," said Lionel. "Best get going before something happens. And something WILL."

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then." Cherry soon said.

"Are you gonna cry?" Sonia asked.

"No, no, I don't cry," Cherry shook her head. "Just get yourselves out of here."

The hedgehog triplets looked a little sad about leaving so soon.

"Hey... Sorry we didn't get to do everything on your bucket list, pal." Tom tried to soothe them, though mostly Sonic.

"It's okay," Sonic reassured softly. "I did the ones I needed the most."

"Now g'wan," Lionel replied. "Get on outta here. You got a place to be, see?"

"So, alright... Bye-Bye." Sonic said as he stepped away from his new friends to go with Sonia and Manic.

"So long and farewell." Mo added.

The hedgehog triplets were about to go as they looked sad before they turned back around.

"Just... One more thing." Sonic soon said.

Tom walked over to Sonic and got down on one knee to make eye contact.

"I'm sorry I was so hard on you." Sonic began.

"It wasn't just you, Sonic, all of us," Sonia clarified as she came by with Manic. "We know it's a tough decision for you to leave Green Hills." she then said to Tom.

"Yeah, dude... Walking away from something you care about... Has to be painful." Manic added.

"You're not sure you really wanna go, huh?" Tom asked the hedgehog triplets.

"We don't wanna go, but I can't stay." Sonia said.

"As long as we're here, we put everyone in danger," Manic added. "We can't do that."

"We just want you to know that these last two days have been the best two days of our lives." Sonic then smiled with Sonia and Manic.

"You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually gonna miss you, you little devils." Tom replied.

The group all agreed on that.

Sonic smiled. "We'll miss you too, Donut Lord. Thank you." He fished a ring out of his pouch, which he had strapped around his shoulder like a fanny pack. He threw it, expecting it to open a portal to the mushroom planet.

However, it bounced off one of Robotnik's drones and fell down. A number of them begin to surround our heroes.

"Okay, did someone leave their Find My Phone on?" asked Sonia.

More drones surrounded them, and a vile flying machine rose up: the Eggmobile.

The hood slid open, showing Dr. Robotnik is at the controls, wearing a more game-accurate red-and-black suit. "Welcome to San Francisco, Mr. Wachowski," he smirked. "Are you enjoying the clam chowder?"

"We haven't had a chance to try it yet, but good to know." Thor replied.

"It's the government wackjob who keeps trying to kill us," said Tom. **"UNSUCCESSFULLY!**! Nice for you to swing by on your way to Comic-Con."

"Yeah, what are you wearing?" asked Cherry.

Dr. Robotnik looked at his own outfit. "It's a flight suit. Designed to modulate my body temperature and reduce drag." he replied, saying the last word through gritted teeth.

"Yeah. And yet, you still are one." said Atticus.

Dr. Robotnik chortled sarcastically. "Good one! You are catching fire, Mr. Fudo," he told Tom. "Oh, and speaking of heat, I see you've taken a lover. Does she have a name, or should we just call her 'Collateral Damage'?"

"Hey, watch your mouth," said Tom. "Unless you want a little more of what I gave you earlier..." he turned to Maddie. "I punched him in the face."

"Oh, he punched him right in the face," Manic laughed. "It was awesome!"

"The time for talking is over!" snapped Robotnik, summoning his flying drones. "It's time to push buttons."

"Your flying eggs are pretty impressive, Mr. Eggman," said Sonic. "But let's face it, you'll never catch me."

Dr. Robotnik smirked. "Confidence... A fool's substitute for intelligence." he replied.

"If he's an Eggman, then he must be cracked in the head!" Mo remarked.

"Bring it on," Cherry told Robotnik. "I'm not scared of you!"

"Well, if you're so eager, you little emo, I shall show you what I can do." Robotnik smirked as he soon opened the hatch of a button, which supercharged the quills he had obtained.

"Prepping Quill Energy" appeared on a readout and soon, all of the drones were surrounding the heroes and simultaneously opened their flaps to attack mode.

"That's not good." Sonia said nervously.

"Uh... Guys?" Tom spoke up to the hedgehog triplets. "I know you've got the super speed and everything, but Maddie and I--"

"Totally defenseless? Probably gonna get blown up?" Manic guessed.

"Yeah." Tom nodded.

"Pretty much, yeah." Maddie added.

"Don't worry," Sonic smirked. "We know exactly what to do."

"Want some help?" Atticus asked the hedgehog triplets.

"We're more than what we appear to be." Thor added.

Sonic suddenly bolted toward the wall behind them, then toward them, pushing Tom and Maddie off the roof.

Robotnik looked down at them in surprise, then sat back. "I was not expecting that..." he began, before shrugging. "But I was expecting not to expect something, so it doesn't count."

All of the drones opened fire at the group, but they slowed down and stop, just as they're about to hit.

"We've stepped into The Matrix!" Lionel exclaimed. "Stop: Bullet Time!"

Sonic yawned. "C'mon, I'm waaaaaaa-iting...!" he groaned, before he moved some of the rockets out of the way, while Manic, Sonia, and the others dismantled the drones.

When Robotnik hit the button, the Eggmobile shot upwards. Just as Sonic pushed two of the drones around so that they will fire at each other, the machine flew back down and pulls out a laser. Sonic's eyes widened in horror as it fired. He tried to get out of the way, but the beam blasted him out of his speed zone. When he regained consciousness, he saw Tom and Maddie, coming closer and closer to the concrete below. Sonic, surrounded by his scattered rings, tried to grab one of them, which was just out of his reach. Frantically, he swam through the air towards the Warp Rings. Just then, he yanked out one of his quills to fish the ring out of the air and get his footing. As he and the others ran down the Pyramid, he threw the ring, teleporting the two falling people back to Green Hills, flying sideways into an open barn.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The hedgehog triplets yelped as they fell down a tree and landed on the sidewalk.

Crashing and clattering sounds of all kinds were heard as rings, broken drones and rubble fell down around him.

* * *

The owner of the farm soon saw Tom, lying in a haystack with his wife. "Oh... Hi, Tom," he then said to the city man. "Glad you're here, could use some help. Old Bessie is about to give birth."

A cow was heard mooing as if on cue.

"Give me a minute..." Tom replied through heavy breathing.

"At least Tom and Maddie are safe now." Cherry said.

Thor put his hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him. "It's Hero Time," he then smiled. "Are ya ready to ROCK?!"

"Erm..." Cherry blinked.

"GREAT!" Thor beamed as he picked her off her feet suddenly. "Let's do this!"

"Waaah!" Cherry yelped before the others came together and a lightning bolt hit them all at once.

The group was then transformed into their Justice League forms as they decided to help the hedgehog triplets.

"Can I give you one genius piece of advice?" Robotnik smirked. "Don't run. It'll only hurt more if you do. And it's bad for your joints, they've proved it."

"You ever get hit by thunder before?" Thunder Boy smirked back.

"That's scientifically impossible and you know--" Robotnik retorted before he got hit by a Thunder Ball suddenly. "...It." he then added weakly.

"You wanna go fast, Eggman? Try and catch the pink, green, and blue blurs!" Thunder Boy smirked.

"You wanna get fast? Let's get fast!" Sonic exclaimed as Manic and Sonia grabbed up the rings; then they took off, as the not-so-good doctor put on his goggles.

"The hard way, it is," Robotnik replied, as the Eggmobile charged after the target. Running through the streets of San Francisco, Robotnik fired his laser constantly, but they miss due to Sonic's agility. "That was an illegal left, by the way!"

And so the chase continued, with Robotnik even summoning a massive wrecking-ball construct to smash his spiky foes.

"How is this possible? No one's ever caught up to me before..." Sonic grunted.

"Who cares?" asked Sonia. "Just make with the rings!"

* * *

In Paris, a mother and daughter were looking at a mime, because of course, they do. The child seemed particularly uninterested, until the mime made a circle with his arms, revealing the ring portal Sonic just made.

"À venir, mec!" Manic called as the group shot down Nob Hill and through the ring, passing the three occupants.

The mime ducked. "Sacré-bleu!" he exclaimed, as Robotnik came afterwards.

"Excusez-moi, monsieur." The evil doctor chuckled.

* * *

Sonia sighed as they went through a portal to the Great Wall of China. "We were in Paris... The fashion epicenter of the world..." she complained. "AND I COULDN'T EVEN ENJOY IT! Also, I didn't know you _knew_ French."

"Even I keep secrets." Manic shrugged.

The Eggmobile swirled around, but Robotnik was still able to keep up, even though the hedgehog was jumping around and ran along the walls of the passage, especially with the group launching their own attacks. Sonic quickly threw out a third ring, leading them to Egypt.

"We can't lose him!" Thunder Boy wheezed. "It's like he's tracking us!"

As Robotnik destroyed the Great Sphinx, Sonic skidded in the sand, he had an idea.

"Saaaaay... If ya can't beat 'em, blind 'em!" The blue hedgehog grinned. "Time for a Sonic Sandstorm!" He swirled around the plain of sand, circling Robotnik's machine.

A sandstorm flew up, blinding Robotnik. "Lost... Visual contact!" he grunted, before he saw Sonic, running up the edge of the Giza Pyramid.

"You're not allowed up there! It's one of the Seven Wonders!" The blue hedgehog shouted, flying out of the tornado.

"Says the guy who blew up the Sphinx!!" Bat-Mite called.

* * *

Just as Sonic threw out another ring, Robotnik activated his laser again, blowing Sonic through the portal. In Green Hills, where it was now night, the other end opened and Sonic fell through it, landing on the asphalt, ruffled and defeated. His ring pouch slid along the road, out of his reach. The group followed with Manic and Sonia, as the Eggmobile slowly, ominously emerged through the portal before it closed, towering over Sonic. Tom, Maddie, and the farmer appeared on the scene.

"You're an astonishing little creature." grinned the devilish doctor.

Manic gasped. "Oh no, bro..." tears began to form in his eyes as he blinked.

"You... You... EGGMAN!" Cherry glared with tears in her eyes.

"Ooh, I'm shaking in my boots." Robotnik smirked, unfazed by her insult as she was too upset to think of anything snark worthy.

The rest of the group surrounded her as this was a very sad sight to behold.

"I just... We never... I can't believe..." Cherry said emotionally.

Atticus soon put his hand on Cherry's shoulder before she soon turned around at him and she hugged him while looking very devastated and sad as it looked like Sonic the Hedgehog was now dead.

Sonic's eyes seemed to briefly open as Tom grabbed the ring pouch.

"It's okay, Cherry, it's okay." Mo soothed as the perky goth looked very emotional for the first time in a very long while.

"It'll be fun to take you and your rodent siblings back to the lab for a litany of invasive exploratory procedures," Robotnik smirked boastfully. "Any last words?"

Sonic managed to lift his head. "Guac... I like that word..." he grunted, before passing out.

Fortunately, a hero had emerged behind the bad egg.

"I don't have to tell you how many scientific breakthroughs have been made possible by animal testing," snapped Robotnik. "You're being very selfish."

"Going my way?" asked a voice.

"What the..." asked Robotnik, before Tom connected his fist with the doc's face; the two of them grappled for a while before Tom was almost forced over the edge of the Eggmobile. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

Tom knocked Robotnik over, gaining the advantage. "I'm the Donut Lord, you son of a..." he remarked, before he tilted the vehicle, causing its unwanted passenger to fall.

Maddie ran over to Tom to make sure he wouldn't hit the ground as Robotnik activated the autopilot program.

"Why? Why would you throw your life away for this... Thing?" asked the doctor. "That's why I don't have friends, just a stupid nephew with a pointy nose and premature baldness. Next thing you know, you're somebody's best man, they wanna have the wedding outta town, like nobody has anything better to do. Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes... You were about to die."

"Ooh, if I die, my uncle's gonna be really maaad~" Thor said in a scolding tone.

"Well, if your uncle has a problem, he can just bring his fat butt over here and I'll deal with him!" Robotnik sneered.

Suddenly, the ship was hit by a shot and the others looked to see who it was who had done that.

* * *

"That's our sheriff you're messing with." Wade glared as he had caused the shot.

"And our Blue, Pink, and Green Devils," Crazy Carl added as he brought out a chainsaw. "Who, as everyone can see, are very real creatures and not at all invented by me!"

"That one looks more magenta to me than pink actually, but... Back away... Just..." Wade said as he lightly pushed the chainsaw away with the end of his gun, startling the crazy old man for a bit. "Just put it away, just..."

"Well, it's good to at least have someone else from Green Hills on our side." Atticus smiled.

"Tom?" asked Maddie.

Tom followed his wife's gaze, and there was Sonic, laying still on the asphalt. Manic collapsed into Sonia's arms, tears pouring from his eyes.

"I don't mean to be indelicate here, but... Someone should get some ice to keep the body fresh," Robotnik stated. "He's just a silly little alien. He didn't belong here!"

Tom shot a glare at Robotnik that could kill a thousand men. "That 'little alien'... Knew more about being human... Than you ever will," he glowered. "His name was Sonic. This was his home. And he was our friend."

"And so are Sonia and Manic." Cherry added sharply.

The rest of the group around Cherry nodded in strong agreement.

BAM! Sonic's eyes flew open, as his irises had turned blue again. The group and Robotnik looked at him, the latter shielding his eyes. The blue hedgehog soon stood back up as lightning flew everywhere, but he seemed to now be able to control it and began to charge up.

"He's all yours." Atticus told Sonic before getting out of the way with Tom, Maddie, and his friends.

"Everyone, get back!" Thor called out.

All of Green Hills' residents soon stepped away from the scene, safely out of Robotnik's line of fire.

"Bro, Sis, come on!" Sonic called out to Manic and Sonia.

The two other hedgehogs nodded and came to their brother's sides as they soon appeared to glow with their blue brother.

"I think you have something of ours." Sonic declared as the energy sparked around the trio.

The energy began to yank and pull with its tendrils until the three quills were torn from the Eggmobile.

"This is _our_ power." declared Sonia.

"And we're not using it to run away no more!" Manic added.

"We're using it to protect our friends!" Sonic finished. "Your luck just went up, over, and gone."

"This is like something out of a video game." Atticus beamed.

"It sure is something alright." Thor smiled.

Robotnik soon put his goggles back on as the hedgehog triplets' visage was reflected in them. Several rockets appeared along the rims of the ship and laser pointers crawled over the asphalt, towards their targets. Sonic got down on his hands and knees, both of them are ready as Sonia and Manic came beside their blue brother. After a moment, the doctor made his move. The rockets flew away to the triplets, who evaded them and launched themselves against the Eggmobile. Sonic and Manic reached the accompanying wall, bouncing off it and attacking again. Sonia soon twirled in a tornado spin like the Tasmanian Devil and soon went on and on with her brothers in colorful hazes before they soon had severely damaged the Eggmobile.

"Ah, ooh... Oh... Now you've done it!" Robotnik glared at the hedgehog triplets.

"Guess what, Eggbutt?" asked Sonic. "We're not leaving Earth: _YOU_ ARE!"

"Tom? S'il vous plaît?" asked Manic, as Tom threw out a Warp Ring behind Robotnik.

"TRIPLE SPIN ATTACK!" The triplets declared as they shot forward, knocking the Eggmobile through the Warp Ring.

" **I... HATE... THOSE... HEDGEHOGS!** " Robotnik screamed as he vanished into the portal.

* * *

The group chuckled as Robotnik was defeated much to their relief. The citizens of Green Hills also cheered and celebrated the defeat of the mad doctor.

"I think you're all gonna be okay from now on." Thor smiled at the hedgehog triplets.

Tom went over to the trio. "Told you, you got this."

"Hey, we got this." Sonic stated.

Tom held up his hand. Sonic, overjoyed, circled around, jumped up and gave his friend a high-five. "I think these belong to you." he said, holding the Warp Rings.

Sonic grinned. "Thank you very much."

"No more pushing people off of buildings." said Tom.

"You know I can't promise that." replied Manic, as Tom returned the rings.

"You did pretty good, Spacehogs." Tom smiled.

"Thanks, Donut Lord." Sonia chuckled.

"You're gonna have to explain this Donut Lord thing." Maddie told her husband.

"No, sorry. That's for me and these three, right?" Tom chuckled.

"Sure sounds like it." Atticus smirked.

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic nodded at Tom.

"We got our thing," Tom replied. "You've got your thing with your... Sister."

"Oh, my God," Maddie's eyes widened in realization. "My sister..."

* * *

We cut back to Rachel, still tied to her chair, certainly not amused.

JoJo circled around her, imitating Sonic. "Gotta go fast, gotta go fast, gotta go fast..."

"...JoJo, put on my FitBit," Rachel pouted. "I can at least get some steps."

* * *

**_Back with the others..._ **

"Eh, she'll be fine." Cherry shrugged.

"We can never go back there." said Maddie.

"I mean, are we?" asked Tom. "'Cuz it kind of feels like we're home right now."

"Really?" asked Maddie.

Tom glanced at the triplets. "I kind of feel like I checked the 'Save A Life' box off my bucket list... Three times, in fact. Now all I wanna do is spend my life with the people I care about. I wanna check that box."

"Okay. I'd like that." Maddie smiled.

"Alright, everybody," Wade said as he cleared the area as the group walked away with the two adults and hedgehog triplets. "Nothing to see here. Disperse. Just an ordinary day in Green Hills. Carl, I'll take that chainsaw. Come on, let's go! You act like you've never seen a fight between some intergalactic space rodents and a robot with a doctorate."

Atticus and Cherry shared an eye roll at that.

"Sorry, we didn't get the vacation you wanted, Cherry." Mo said.

"Ah, it's alright," Cherry shrugged. "I should've known an adventure would come out from it anyway... At least it wasn't from anybody who hates The Justice League." she then whispered so Tom and Maddie wouldn't hear.

"Besides, I think the trio are okay," Lionel smiled. "They have a new home, and a family to be part of."

"Yeah!" Thor smiled back. "We did awesome for them and they did just as awesome... Ly..." he then added before pausing as he felt unsure if that was a real word or not.

Everybody soon left after a long day to get some rest.


	9. Chapter 9

"I think we should grab a late dinner and hit the hay." Atticus suggested once he came back to the motel room with his friends.

"You took the words out of my mouth," Lionel agreed. "So, what're we having for dinner tonight?"

"Hmm... Pizza?" Atticus suggested.

Everyone nodded and agreed on that as Atticus started making the call.

"I never thought in my life I'd be helping talking hedgehogs," Thor said. "I mean... What do ya say to that?!"

"The League probably would never believe us." Cherry remarked.

"Exactly!" Thor replied. "Who could we share this adventure with?"

"Zan and Jayna, maybe?" asked Lionel. "And besides, the League has seen crazier things than talking hedgehogs. It's not _that_ unbelievable."

"Sure, we'll tell them," Thor nodded as he sat back up. "Though I guess that's also a good point. I'm not sure what's normal in this realm."

"Aww, poor Thor..." Cherry smirked before hitting him with a pillow.

"Oof!" Thor gasped before glaring.

"Heheh..." Cherry smirked.

Thor then smirked back as he soon grabbed a pillow and began to chase her with it.

"Yaaaugh!" Cherry cried out before the pillow hit her and she fell to the floor suddenly.

"Ah, whatever," Lionel shrugged. "Pillow fight!"

Atticus rolled his eyes as he finished the pizza order before he decided to join in. Cherry laughed as she had a lot of fun with the others as they had their pillow fight.

* * *

And so, the fun continued until the pizza delivery arrived in a half hour. Atticus checked the time and soon opened the door.

"Pizza!" The delivery boy smiled before handing him the box. "Whoa... Did you guys have an explosion in here?" he then asked as he saw a bunch of feathers everywhere.

"Something like that, but don't worry." Atticus said as he paid with a 50 dollar bill.

"Thanks," The delivery guy replied as he took his payment. "Have a nice night."

"You too." Atticus nodded before he came inside with the pizza.

The group soon gathered around to each take some pizza for themselves as they watched some TV.

"So, what're we watching?" Atticus asked them.

"Some plumber cartoon with mushrooms and dragons, I think." Cherry replied.

"Not a dragon, a turtle demon," Lionel stated. "Just cuz something has flames, it's not automatically a dragon."

"Well, I didn't know!" Cherry shrugged defensively.

"A plumber is gonna save a princess," Mo told Atticus. "Pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yeah, a little bit." Atticus had to agree.

"Kinda makes you wonder." Lionel replied.

The group nodded as they ate their pizza and fell asleep early that night since they had a big day helping Sonic, Manic, and Sonia fight against Robotnik, or The Eggman, or whatever the others wanted to call him. It didn't matter now, at least the mad and villainous doctor was gone for another day.


	10. Chapter 10

And so, the next day, the group was up and on the move.

"Guess we can head home now," Lionel said. "Considering the adventure is completed."

"Yeah." Atticus nodded in agreement.

"Let's go say goodbye one last time to our new friends before we're off." Mo suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea." Cherry replied.

"Cool plan!" Lionel declared. "Sha-BOOEY!" he exclaimed, poofing them all to Tom and Maddie's house.

The group blinked as they looked around before knocking on the door.

"Huh?" Tom asked before he opened the door with a small smile. "Oh. Hello there, guys."

"Hey," Atticus smiled. "We're about to head back home, but we thought we'd say one last goodbye."

"Well, you can head up and check out the new rooms we made up for the kids." Maddie replied.

"...Kids?" Cherry asked. "Oh! You mean the hedgehogs."

"Yeah, we thought it'd be a nice little treat after our little adventure." Maddie smiled.

"Little she says." Thor smirked playfully.

However, before they could go any further...

"Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski?" A uniformed man called sharply.

"Yeah?" asked Tom.

"We would like to thank you for keeping recent incidents under your hats." replied the man in the suit.

The group soon acted innocent as they stood behind the couple of adults in front of them.

"Wow! Wonder what it is...?" Tom pondered.

"Money to fix the house?" Maddie guessed.

"Letter from the President?" Tom added.

"You'll see." The man said, handing over an envelope.

"Okay." Tom shrugged before opening up the envelope to find... An Olive Garden gift card to about $50 from "Uncle Sam".

"Olive Garden?" The group asked with Maddie.

"Hmm..." The man paused.

"Yeah... The way you said 'you'll see', uh, made me think it was something better than the things we said." Tom smiled sheepishly.

"Have you tried their Never Ending Pasta Bowl?" The man recommended. "It never ends."

"Olive Garden sounds so good right now." Thor said, nearly drooling.

"That makes two of us." Lionel nodded.

"Any sightings of those little hedgehog guys?" asked the man. "We'd like to have a talk with them. Preferably brunch?"

It seemed quiet for a moment.

"Oh, you mean the little colorful guys?" Tom then asked.

"Hmm..." The man paused thoughtfully.

"No. No, nothing," Tom replied. "Doubt we'll ever hear from them again."

"Yeah, that's #OldNews." Atticus added.

Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Thor cringed slightly.

"Very well." The man replied.

"Okay... Thank you." Tom nodded.

"Great." Maddie added.

"Yep." Mo said as she shut the door as the man was shut out.

"NEVER. USE. HASHTAGS. AGAIN." Lionel hissed.

"Sorry about that," Atticus replied. "I just wanted to sound like a typical kid who knew nothing suspicious."

"To be honest, I'm pretty pumped about the pasta bowl." said Tom as he and Maddie went back to the couch, where Sonic, Manic, and Sonia were hidden.

* * *

"So, do you guys wanna watch a movie or what?" asked Sonic.

"I wanna watch Adam Sandler!" Manic exclaimed. "Or Jack Black... Or Chris Farley... OOH! Maybe David Spade!"

"Was RuPaul in any films?" asked Sonia. "If so, I wanna watch them!"

"Sorry, kiddos. It's a school night," said Maddie. "It's time for you three to go back to your cave."

"What?" asked Sonic as he hopped onto the couch next to Ozzy. "It's 3:00 in the afternoon!"

"You know how you get when you're tired," replied Tom. "C'mon."

"Us?" Sonic retorted. "We're not like anything."

Tom and Maddie gave mild glances.

"Ah, you guys are _so_ uncool..." Manic remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Tom teased.

The hedgehog triplets groaned as they went to leave the house.

"Hey, guys," Tom spoke up. "Where are you going?"

"You said we had to go back to our cave." Sonic reminded.

"We did." Tom nodded, though he had something else in mind.

"Is this what I think it means?" Atticus asked Tom and Maddie.

"Yeah, you guys should come see too before you go back home." Maddie smiled warmly.

* * *

And so, the group headed upstairs. As Tom opened the attic door, Sonic came inside, only to see that all of his belongings from his old cave had been brought into the attic.

"Oh, my... Are you kidding me? I can't believe it... How did you... It's... It's all here..." The blue hedgehog exclaimed.

"And we didn't leave you two out." Maddie told Sonia and Manic, showing them the spare rooms that had also been filled with their things from the old cave.

The triplets each came over to Tom and Maddie and exclaimed, "WE LOVE IT!"

"Well, welcome home." Maddie smiled.

"Thanks... So much." Sonic replied as he and his siblings hugged Tom and Maddie.

"Aww..." Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Thor awed at the very heartwarming moment.

Tom embraced them as this was the beginning of a brand new family as Ozzy found a way upstairs and he joined them as he barked.

"Oh, no, you don't," Sonic scolded. "No second best animal friends allowed in my room."

"Wait, what are you doing?" Manic asked. "Stay away from us!"

There was soon some laughter heard.

"Ew! Dog germs!" Sonia cried out playfully.

"Stop it! I'm warning you, I've got nunchucks!" Sonic called out as he laughed with Manic. "Okay, stop! Okay, you can stay!"

And at that, Atticus drove his car away to take himself and the others back home though they all had to wonder if they would ever see their hedgehog friends ever again.

* * *

Elsewhere, on the outskirts of Green Hills, a Warp Ring opened, and out came a two-tailed yellow fox, wearing red and white shoes, and holding a device in his hands. "If these readings are accurate, they're here," he smiled. "I found them... I just hope I'm not too late..."

And with a whirl of his twin tails, he flew off towards Green Hills, in a search that would soon prove fruitful, but that's another story for another time. Like all great things and stories, things must come to an end and that included this story, but hopefully, there would be more someday.

So The End and GAME OVER... For now. 


End file.
